


Outsiders

by Ocil91



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Family Bonding, Gen, Homophobia, Isolation, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:05:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 137,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27110131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ocil91/pseuds/Ocil91
Summary: The Blight Twins discover that they're outsiders in their own home.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Edric Blight/Jerbo, Emira Blight/Viney
Comments: 539
Kudos: 978





	1. Outsiders

**Author's Note:**

> I have not written anything in a very, very long time, so this is likely incredibly rough around the edges. It has also ended up being much, much longer than I intended for it to be.

Emira Blight lay down in her bed, staring at the ceiling, silently churning in her own thoughts. She hated nights like this. The restless nights where she was hopelessly drawn into the past. At least tonight she had a good reason to reflect.

Piecing together how she got here always started at the very beginning. The Blight parents had always been strict and more than a bit cold. Through the years she and her brother Edric had always been each other's support. The whole thing about twins who were so close it was kinda creepy was a cliché, but they kind of had to. Without Edric she'd have probably gone crazy by now.

The Twins shared nearly every experience together. And anything that had happened to only one would be retold to the other in agonizing detail as soon as was possible. It wasn't uncommon for Edric to rush into her room to tell her some exciting thing that happened. That night, way back then, had been different. Instead of bolting in excitedly, he quietly opened the door and shut it behind him as though it would shatter if he wasn't as careful as possible.

Emira couldn't remember what she had been doing when he entered that night. Her memories of the night were confusing. Some parts she could remember with crystal clarity, like they had happened just moments prior. Other parts were a blur and jumble, mixed up parts that she couldn't pick a cohesive story out of if she'd tried.

"What's up?" she'd asked, worried about the nearly visible nervous energy coming off of her brother.

"We need to talk." He kept his head low and was doing his best to avoid direct eye contact, which immediately upset Emira. She'd seen him like this countless times. This was how he acted when their mother scolded them. It wasn't until this moment that she'd realized just how much she hated the mere prospect of him acting the same way towards her.

"Yeah, of course. What's wrong?" Whatever she'd been doing up to this moment couldn't have been less important. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath and Emira plopped down next to him, bouncing the whole bed and nearly knocking him off.

Her brother let out a deep sigh to steel his nerves and began telling Emira all about his day and the thoughts that had been weighing on his mind. For longer than he'd even realized. He talked about all the girls that their parents had tried to set him up with and how those relationships seemed to fizzle out nearly instantly. Emira didn't say one word to interrupt him or sidetrack the conversation. She listened intently to the very end.

"I guess I was kinda worried that something was wrong with me. All these perfectly nice girls and I never felt anything. I was afraid that maybe I just didn't know how to love or something like that. Like you hear all the stories about crazy and wild young love that's messy and dumb and beautiful in its own way. But I never felt anything like that no matter how many girls I was set up with." Edric looked like he was trying to shrink down. Like he was trying to retreat deeper into himself.

"So I tried to pay attention to myself. To see if maybe I was just ignoring my own feelings. And I guess it worked? But not in the way I thought. What I realized was how much more I was noticing my friends. My guy friends. I realized that when our hands touched I felt electricity. I realized that when I see some of these guys smile, my whole world lights up for a second. I guess I realized that I wasn't broken or messed up."

Edric was now in full visible panic mode. He made a quick glance over at Emira just to gauge her reaction so far. He was surprised to find that he had no idea how to interpret the face she was making. She looked surprised, but somehow distant? He knew this was a weird and awkward conversation to have, but he had to do it.

"I guess I'm saying I like guys." He made sure he was looking dead at Emira for this part. This was important to him. And it was important that he make sure to talk to her first. Her face was starting to turn red, which definitely worried him. Was she mad?

Emira wasn't sure at what part of the conversation she'd started to hold her breath. She hadn't meant to. It just kinda happened. Like maybe she was afraid she'd miss something important under the sound of her own breath. And then when Ed just stared at her after reaching his conclusion she realized it was time to speak.

Only instead she released her held breath and gasped for a moment.

"Were you holding your breath that whole time?" Edric chuckled, hoping that would add some much needed levity to the moment.

"Not on purpose." Emira clarified before getting ready to talk about the real issue here. "Ed, you know I'll always have your back. No matter what. I'm happy for you." She didn't hesitate to grasp Ed's hand and squeeze it tightly.

She did her best to sound as reassuring as possible. She meant every word she'd said, but couldn't help this gnawing at the back of her own mind. Almost everything Edric had said was resonating with her. That feeling of being broken somehow. The isolation around countless suitors. She was now completely lost in her own thoughts, only to be jolted out of them as Edric began to stand up, still holding his sister's hand.

"Thanks, Em. It really means a lot to me. Now, we should probably head to bed. It's already pretty late. Wouldn't want to miss out on any of my beauty sleep." He managed to slip right back into his usual snarky demeanor. Sure he was still a mess of nerves. Even when it goes well, something like this is still never easy, but he was a Blight and that meant being able to put on a calm mask at any time.   
As Edric began to head for the door, Emira finally spoke up. "Wait. Don't go just yet, Ed. I... Do you know..."

Emira never stumbled with her words. Always graceful and elegant. The very picture of the Blight name. But now she was trying to find the words to say something. Something that she had never even allowed herself to think before. Not even in her most private thoughts.

"How would I be able to tell if I.... like... girls?" Emira wasn't one to shy away from her problems so she looked her brother in the eyes as she spoke. And she got to see the mask of snark and stoicism melt away as his eyes lit up and he threw himself back onto the bed.

The two talked and talked and talked, each trying to guide the other through this. As always they were each other's lifeline. They grew closer than ever before on that night and didn't even notice when the sunlight began to peek through the window.

=======

Edric Blight lay down in his bed, face firmly planted into his pillow. The Twins had agreed to head to bed early in order to have a solid alibi, but his nerves wouldn't let him sleep. He'd spent the night so far thinking back to all the things he and Emira had been through. He briefly wondered if she was having a similar night, before dismissing the notion. Em was not introspective.

He recalled the night he'd come out to Emira which ended up being the night she came out to him. The twins really did do everything together.

He unfortunately also recalled how that night had ended.

They'd accidentally stayed up all night, talking things through. Ed had already come to terms with his feelings, but Emira seemed to struggle with it a bit more. As he got her to open up earnestly, he managed to calm her fears. The conversation then switched over to teasing each other over their respective tastes.

New fears were stirred however when they heard a knock on the door. Edric glanced at the sun outside the window in disbelief. When did it get so late?  
Emira got up to open the door, silently hoping it was their younger sister Amity on the other side. Maybe it was the Principal. Maybe it was a theif who would just cast a fireball at her. Just anyone but their Mother.

The Blight twins were not that lucky however as once the door swung open their Mother was in fact on the other side. With Edric not in his room, she'd expected to find him in here. She quickly chided him as though he'd committed some sort of crime by going to his sister's room without her knowledge. Ed's head sunk and his eyes darted around as she droned on.

Behind her Amity walked by with a very smug look on her face. Sometimes it seemed like the only time they saw Mittens smile was when they were in trouble.

Their Mother cut her own derision short to remind them that they needed to be ready for school in but a few moments. She started to walk away when Edric decided to speak up. He knew they couldn't go to school like this. The night had completely exhausted them both physically and mentally and the highs of the night had let them power through it. Until now anyways.

"Em and I aren't feeling so good. You can probably tell. I don't know what's wrong, but it wasn't letting me sleep so I came in here to see how Em was doing. And you know we do everything together, so whatever it is, she's got it too." He said trying to look as pathetic as possible. He even threw in a fake cough for good measure.

Emira desperately wanted to grab him by the throat and toss him out the window in this moment. But still, she had his back. "Yeah, but Ed has it way worse than me. He threw up like-"

Their Mother cut her short, clearly disgusted. "Very well. I'll inform the school. Try to get some rest, you both look dreadful. I'll be back this afternoon to inspect you." She moved along in a hurry, as though she wanted to be anywhere but near them.

Edric retreated back to his room and waited for the sounds of activity to die down. Once he was relatively convinced that the coast was clear, he bolted back to Emira's room. Inside he found Emira who had clearly had a similar plan, but fell asleep during the waiting part. She had slid off the bed and was snoozing with her head on the ground and her legs curled over onto the bed.

He did the brotherly thing and took a snapshot on his scroll. Then quietly, so as not to wake his dear sleeping sister, he walked over to her dresser. He looked at all the makeup and brushes and things scattered on it. He glanced at a container of eyeliner that she'd forgotten to close back.

"I could probably pull that off." he thought to himself before grabbing what he'd come over here for. A small container of perfume. Murderberry scent. Classic Em.

He walked over to his sleeping sister and with the most innocent look he could muster proceeded to spray it in her face to wake her up.

"WHAT" she suddenly yelped, trying to grasp her surroundings. Edric thought about spraying her again, but decided against since her eyes were open this time.

"Morning. You get your beauty rest?" Edric teased.

"No, I don't really need it. You really should go get yours though. I'll come wake you in 20 years when you're as beautiful as me." Emira shakily got herself up out of her heap on the floor.

"Well we're twins, so...." Edric shrugged and trailed off.

"Seriously though Ed. We really should get some rest. I mean I'm down to talk some more for a bit if you need to, but we do need at least a little sleep before we get -ugh- 'inspected'." She tried to remind him of the threat that was now looming over them. They either needed to be fully recovered or about to die when they next saw their Mother. Whichever one, really.

Ed tensed up and tried to start a sentence which failed miserably. After a deep breath he tried again.

"We need to tell them." he spoke more solemnly than he'd meant to. He felt like he'd used up all his courage to talk to Emira about this, but he couldn't just hide it. Not this.

If Emira wasn't already exhausted, that sure would've done the trick. She let out a loud groan and flopped back onto her bed. Her brain was still foggy and words weren't forming as quickly as she'd like.   
Edric's mind, on the other hand, was racing. Thoughts streaming and colliding and overlapping. And then it all vanished when he glanced over at Emira while she was trying to piece her own thoughts together.

"You don't have to. I won't make you. I'm gonna tell them tonight though. So I guess if you don't want to be involved, its a good night to sneak out. I hear the Night Market has got some crazy stuff going on." As always he tried to cap things off with a smirk and something light. He couldn't think of anything scarier than facing their parents alone, but he wouldn't force this on Em. Not ever.

"You've made up your mind?" she asked, sitting back up and placing a hand on Ed's shoulder.

"Yeah." he wished he had something more reassuring to add onto that, but nothing came out. He also wished he'd sounded more resolute and less like he was shaking.

"Then I'm with you. I told you. I've always got your back." she gave his shoulder a quick tap, expecting him to relax, but instead he only tensed up more.

"I'm serious Em. You don't have to do this just because of me. I feel bad dragging you into that. You've always got my back and I've always got yours. I can do it alone tonight or we can do it together some other time. When we're both ready." he turned around to face his sister. He wasn't going to slink away and hide, even if he felt like it.

Emira seemed to think on the offer for a moment.

"We should do it tonight. If we don't do it now who knows what excuses to not do it will pop up. And besides what are you gonna do if we were to wait? With those acting skills?"

Emira stood up on her bed and pretended to double over in pain. "Oh Mother, Em and I are so unwell!" she let out several fake coughs.

Without a word he grabbed her ankle and yanked her foot out from under her and simply let go. She flipped over and landed on the bed with a thud as the mattress bounced for a moment. 

Edric wished he had some clever snark or funny comment, but the stress and fatigue finally caught up with him. He could barely hold his eyes open suddenly.

"We should go get some rest for real though." Emira spoke up, in sync with him as always.

Edric simply nodded and made himself get up off the floor. He grabbed Emira's hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "Thanks Em."

He then made his way back to his room and collapsed on his own bed. He'd probably get yelled at for not even bothering to get under the blankets but he was out the instant he landed.

He was roused from his sleep suddenly by his sister. He had no way to tell how long he'd been asleep, but he knew for sure it wasn't as long as he'd have liked.

"Put your face on, Ed. They're home early." she kept her voice low. "Mittens is still at school, so do you want to do this now?" She felt like it was a dumb question, but she needed to make sure they were on the same page.

"Yeah, if that's cool with you." he rubbed at his eyes, trying to look more alert.

She simply thumped him on the forehead. "Wouldn't be asking if I wasn't."

Over the course of the next few minutes the two composed themselves. They knew not to keep their parents waiting for long. It was then just a quick trip down some stairs to find their parents waiting in the foyer.

"You're looking much better." Their Mother began. The way she said it, it sounded more like a statement of fact than of concern. She leaned in closer, really looking at the twins with a piercing gaze. She could likely still see the evidence of fatigue. "But not better enough. We'll arrange for a Healing Coven specialist to visit. You will be expected to return to classes tomorrow and you will be presentable."

Their Father said nothing and simply looked down at them, choosing to let their Mother say her piece.

Emira could sense Edric's hesitation now that they were actually face-to-face with their parents. It was now or never and she knew it.

"That won't be necessary." Emira spoke up, causing their attention to be singularly focused on her. "The truth is, we weren't actually sick. We were just up all night talking."

Edric found his eyes glued to the ground. His breath burned in his lungs and he felt like there was a red-hot ball of iron rolling around in his stomach. He couldn't believe he was paralyzed with fear now of all times. This had been his idea to begin with and Emira had to take the reigns as always.

Their Mother's gaze hardened and she did little to hide her displeasure. "You lied? Well I hope your little chit-chat was worth it, because there will be consequences. So, tell us what you talked about that was just so important."

Venom dripped off of her every word. When she spoke like this it always felt like the very air around them was poisioned. Every breath taken in felt scorching. 

"Well-" Emira started, before immediately being interrupted.

Edric's head snapped up and he thoughtlessly blurted it out, afraid that if the words didn't leave him now, they never would. And he was not putting this all on Em.

"I like guys!" he said much louder than he'd meant to. As soon as he said it, his posture shrunk down again. The deed had been done. He forced himself not to look back at the ground and watch his mother's expression shift from anger to confusion to horror.

"You what?" she exclaimed incredulously. "I must surely be mistaken."

Given how loud he'd yelled it, everyone knew they hadn't misheard. She was giving him a chance to walk away from this. To back down.

"You heard me." was Edric's immediate response. The words were confident, but he couldn't be less confident if were trying. "I only figured it out recently and I thought that I should be honest with you."

If their Father was angry, he was much better at hiding it. He took a step forward and began to calmly speak finally. "Edric, a Blight cannot-"

Emira cut him off, grabbing Edric's hand and putting herself between them. "Me too! I mean, uh, but with girls. Uh, surprise?" she chuckled nervously. Seeing them target Edric had lit a fire under her, but one that quickly went out when she actually began to speak.

Emira's outburst seemed to catch their Father off-guard more than Edric's. He nearly showed an emotion.

Their Mother, however, had gone red in the face. "This- This nonsense will not be tolerated in this house! I have half a mind to-"

The Father placed his hand on his wife's shoulder and pulled her back out of the twins' faces. Her gaze towards her husband wasn't any less piercing.

"A moment, Odalia." he said, creating a spell circle in the air that encased them in a purple bubble.

The twins could see them talking, but couldn't hear so much as a sound. They only saw their Mother's incensed movements contrasted against their Father's near motionlessness.

Edric decided to take this chance to speak with Emira. "I'm so, so sorry Em. This was a terrible idea."

"It kinda was a terrible idea, yeah. But, I think it was always going to be like this. We'll figure this out. Whatever this is." she glanced over at the bubble and saw their Mother's movements calming down.  
After a few more minutes, the bubble popped. And once it was gone their Mother now moved and spoke with an unnerving calmness.

"After some discussion we've reached a decision about what to do with you." The twins had heard this tone countless times before. This was the tone she used when speaking to business associates.  
"You will be permitted to stay in this home. However, as soon as you finish school you are to join a Coven and leave. Is that understood?"

The twins couldn't believe this. They'd anticipated that they would be angry, but this went beyond anything they could've imagined. They were literally speechless.

Their Mother took the silence as an answer. "Excellent. While you stay you will keep this.... thing under control. If I hear of you bringing any degenerates into this home, I will make sure they are never able to join a Coven. Oh and please do refrain from trying to influence or interfere with Amity in any way. I couldn't bear to see her go down this path as well. That is all. You are dismissed."

She didn't give them even a moment to speak or act or anything. She said her piece and then quickly turned to leave, clearly wanting nothing further to do with them. After taking a deep sigh, their Father wordlessly followed suit.

After a stunned moment, the twins decided to retreat back to Emira's room. Edric's nerves had finally caught up with him and he felt like he really could throw up this time. Emira was trying her best not to let herself cry. 

Once Edric steadied himself enough that he felt like he could talk, he directed his gaze back at the ground and spoke "Em, I'm so so sorry about this. I-"

"If you apologize one more time, I'm gonna start ripping your hair out." Emira was still choking back both anger and tears, so her words came out a bit sharper than she'd meant for them to.

"It's just... They're our parents. I never thought they would.... go this far. Not to us." And tears had started flowing. Edric wasn't like Emira. He couldn't just bottle these things up. He couldn't stop himself as he buried his head in his sister's shoulder.

Seeing Ed cry had, of course, made her start crying. She wasn't sure if it was normal or not, but she just felt more angry than anything else. They trusted them and that trust blew up in their faces. She doubted she'd ever get the look of anger and disgust her Mother had out of her mind.

"They're not parents. They're monsters. And as long as we're in this house, we're outsiders. We've only got each other." She knew she was being dramatic, but it was earned at this point in their day.

Edric looked up from his time buried into her shoulder and boy he looked rough. She couldn't even think of the last time she saw him this disheveled. He sniffed a few times before squeaking out a   
question.

"What about Amity?"

Emira scoffed. "What about Amity?"

Ed looked his sister in disbelief. "Em, we can't just leave her with them."

"Ed, have you not been paying attention? Remember that girl she always used to be with? Willow, I think? Remember how she ran away from here crying? Amity threw her away just to make our parents happy. It seems like she only ever smiles when someone else is getting in trouble and she spends all her time buried in books just to impress them a little more. There's a reason they picked her. She's not like us. She's a real Blight."

Edric just stared at her as she went on. He didn't like to think about things like that, but everything she was saying made sense. Their parents had made it clear that they wanted to protect her from them. "I guess so..."

Still operating on very little sleep and being even more emotionally drained than before, which they hadn't thought possible, the twins filled the rest of the day with idle chatter as they messed around on their scrolls. Seeing everyone's school drama felt so petty now. Eventually they heard the sounds of their younger sister returning from school downstairs.

Curiosity got the better of them. What would their parents tell her? They didn't dare leave Emira's room for fear of being face to face with their parents again, but they couldn't stop themselves from   
crowding around the door, trying to hear even a little better. It was too quiet to make out words, but their parents voices remained low and even. The whole conversation from a distance never changed tone from the first exchanging of pleasantries.

It was safe to assume she'd been told anything but the truth. After a moment they heard someone coming up the stairs and Emira couldn't stop herself from opening the door just a crack to see if it was Amity. 

Sure enough their younger sister walked past, heading towards her own room. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Emira peeking through the crack and suddenly her expression shifted to a smug grin. Emira's blood boiled the instant she saw it and she closed the door as quickly as she could. In that moment their younger sister had looked identical to their mother and Emira hated the feeling it put in her gut.

The rest of the afternoon was spent restlessly trying to calm down with Edric, but it was hard to focus at this point. Eventually the exhaustion caught up with the twins and they headed to bed very, very early. After all, they were still expected to return to school tomorrow.


	2. Alone Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Twins just have another real bad day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cool thing about only planning out certain details is that it means that someone like Eda can show up in the story without my knowledge or approval.

Emira woke before her alarm demon, her body apparently unable to sleep any longer. She'd been out for something like 13 hours. She decided to use the extra time to distract herself with her morning rituals. She hurried towards the bathroom, hoping to catch the shower first. Only it was already occupied. Judging by the singing, Ed had beaten her to it. He was singing whatever dumb song was at the top of the charts this week. Aside from Edric being up this early, this all felt weirdly normal. 

Maybe they could actually just pretend like things were normal. She milled around outside the door for what felt like ages before deciding Ed wasn't coming out any time soon. With a frustrated groan she retreated back to her room. Once inside she wasn't actually sure what to do. No point in starting the makeup routine before a shower. She guessed she could mill around on her scroll, but she'd spent the whole of yesterday afternoon doing that and honestly it hadn't helped at all.

All of a sudden, an idea crossed her mind. She hurried over to the door to Mittens' room and cast a minor illusion spell on herself. Something to silence herself. Wouldn't want to wake the poor dear. Just to be careful, she opened the door as slowly as possible before entering. She was never quite prepared for the Emperor's Coven posters on the wall. There was even a little doll version of one of the Coven's standard goons that was kept on a shelf. Mittens was obsessed.

She found her sister's small alarm demon perched on the nightstand, eagerly awaiting its scheduled time to screech and wake the dreamer. Tapping it on the nose once will silence its screeching for a short time. Tapping it on the nose three times, however, will turn its alarm off. Sure enough after giving it a few taps she watched it stretch and begin to doze off, its duty dismissed. Emira couldn't contain her grin as she made her way back towards the exit. Looks like Little Miss Perfect would be late to school today.

In the hall she saw Edric returning to his room, his lengthy shower finally brought to an end. Emira hurried into the bathroom, worried it would somehow be occupied if she didn't. Once inside, she saw a message written in the fogged up mirror.

"Used all the hot water - Love, Ed" with a doodle of himself winking beside it.

"Today is gonna be a bad day, isn't it?"

=======

With their parents gone the rest of the morning had been uneventful. Who knew waking up early would give you all this extra time in the mornings? It was especially strange to arrive at Hexside with enough time to just walk casually through the halls. Normally the Twins spent this part in a mad dash to not be late. 

They'd hoped to see some of their usual friends, but honestly they had no clue where to find them at this hour. After waiting around outside of the Illusion Track door for a while, they gave up and simply went inside to their seats and waited for everyone else to file in. 

The first couple classes went fine. Boring, but fine. The trouble began when it was time for the first break. The Twins parted ways for the first time that day. Honestly the first time since the whole ordeal had begun. They headed off to join their respective friend groups for their usual banter and gossip.

Emira quickly found her friends in their normal gathering spot.

"Hey, sorry for missing yesterday. Crazy day." Not even one of them looked up from their scrolls to acknowledge her. "Uh, hey are you guys alright?" Again no response.

She was quickly getting ready to start making a scene when her scroll buzzed. It was a message from one of the girls two feet away from her.

"Parents said not to associate with you. Don't know what you did, but you really screwed up this time. Go somewhere else or we could get in trouble too."

Emira Blight's entire face lit up red. She was furious. It was taking everything she had not to take a swing at them. Instead she ran away. She ran back into the building and then past everything, bolting out to the front gate. She thought about just running as far as she could. She thought about going until her legs gave out from under her. Instead she sat down on the front steps and pulled out her scroll to message her brother.

As soon as she hit send, she heard a scroll buzz behind her. It was Edric. She wasn't even sure when he'd gotten here.

"Saw you running like your leggings were on fire. Don't think I've seen you run that fast before." Edric couldn't help but comment as he sat down next to her. After a long moment of silence considering his next words, he chimed in. "You too, huh?"

"I'm just so mad! They have to try to hurt us at school too?!" Emira smacked her hand against the ground which she instantly regretted.

"I guess I never realized that all of our friends were just kids of their business associates. I guess it's kinda my fault for thinking I had actual friends." Ed was kind of staring off into the distance as he spoke. Emira looked over at him and suddenly she remembered. The conversation that had started all this and the way Ed's eyes had lit up when talking about some of his friends. This must've crushed him.

"Ed, I am so sorry. We'll figure this out somehow."

"Figure what out? You were right Em. We've only got each other here. I was just stupid enough to think maybe we weren't actually alone." He wanted to cry again, but he hoped he was much better at hiding it than he felt like.

Emira stood up and dusted herself off. She offered a hand to help Ed stand up and tried not to be insulted when he ignored it to pull himself up. "Well, I know one thing. We are definitely cutting the rest of classes today. I do not feel like sitting through any lectures after this."

"Yeah today was probably going to be a lost cause no matter what." Ed quickly traced a circle in the air and an illusion double of himself popped into being. Em did the same, both of them getting excited about spending the rest of the day on their own terms. It was about that time that twins and their doubles spotted something moving.

There, sprinting towards the school as fast as she could, was Amity. The look of panic on her face was priceless. She clutched her books as hard as she could and nearly tripped as she made her way towards them. Upon spotting the twins, she slowed down and tried to catch her breath.

"You get a good night's sleep, Mittens?" Ed teased, with the double matching his movements.

"Yeah you really shouldn't make a habit of it. You're gonna get in all kinds of trouble that way." Emira was grinning from ear to ear. Even if Amity suspected that they were the cause of this, she would have no way to prove it. 

Once she was done gasping for breath, their sister finally spoke. "I'll try not to. What are you two doing out here? Were you waiting on me? And why do you have illusions of yourselves? You're not planning on skipping classes again, are you?"

"We wouldn't dream of it Mittens. We're just diligent students striving to practice our craft in relative peace. Which you are disrupting." Emira posed and postured to seem as innocent as possible.

"Well, whatever. If you get caught, I'm telling Mom and Dad. You're already in trouble, so you probably shouldn't push it. Now, I need to go find Principal Bump and talk about this tardiness." And without any further ado she scurried off into the building.

The Twins waited outside for a moment before sending their illusions into the building on their behalf while they left the premises. Their illusion doubles seemed upset at being the ones who had to attend classes. Ed's even stuck his tongue out at them while they headed inside.

Normally when skipping classes, the Twins would head into Bonesborough and try to cause trouble. Given everything they'd been through lately, they decided to keep a low profile instead. So, they headed to the crowded market area and headed to the far end. The side where no one would ever expect a Blight to hang out.

In time they even approached the infamous Owl Lady's stand of human wares. The collection of things for sale was nearly as odd as the woman running the stand. They attempted to walk past without making eye contact with her. This was a failed effort however as she blocked their attempt to walk past with her staff.

"Now, I know exactly what you need. A loyal friend. A companion. Someone who always listens." she was every bit as loud and boisterous as the twins had heard, moving not just her arms as she spoke, but her whole body. It was an infectious energy, Edric would later come to admit.

"And I have just the thing for you!" She flashed a grin, her golden fang seeming to spark when she did. Then she dramatically produced what a human would be able to identify as a computer's mouse.

"Yes, this rare human pet is the perfect companion! The Mouse was once a great wild beast that roamed across human fields, but with years of taming and brutal domestication they shrunk down to the timid little fella you see here." She pushed the thing closer to Edric, who seemed kind of excited about it.

"Why isn't it moving? Is it dead?" Emira wasn't nearly as drawn in by the woman's showmanship.

"It's uh," The Owl Lady hesitated, clearly trying to think of a lie. "It's a shy little guy."

Edric had his hands clapped firmly against his cheeks in excitement. "Aw, he's shy!"

"Ed, it's not shy, it's garbage." The status of the Blight family had put them in some degree of contact with human amenities. They weren't nearly as obsessed with it as their younger sister was once she found some dumb human books, but they knew at least a few things.

The Owl Lady's demeanor changed entirely and she tossed the mouse behind her and crossed her arms. "Look are you gonna buy some of my garbage or am I gonna have to make enough of a scene for the guards to notice two troublemakers who forgot to take off their uniforms when they skip class?"

The Twins looked down at their Illusion Track uniforms and panicked. This was a dumb mistake even by their standards. They needed to get away from this dangerous woman as fast as possible.

"I'll take the mouse!" Edric said, trying to get the Wild Witch to chase after it, having just thrown it aside. She grinned and headed back into the stall to figure out where it had landed. The Twins quickly turned around, ready to bolt only to find themselves face to face with one of the guards.

"Hexside uniforms. You'd better have a good reason to be out here at this hour." The guard was already reaching for cuffs. "Actually, I don't really want to hear it." He grabbed Edric's arm and held tightly.

Emira officially had no idea what to do. They couldn't afford to make their parents any madder than they already were and picking a fight with guards wasn't really an option. Of course getting hauled back to their house by guards wasn't an option either.

"Hands off my customer, jerk!" The Owl Lady yelled as she hurried out of the stall and leapt over the desk containing most of her wares. Instead of casting any of her Wild Magic, she simply bludgeoned the guard in the head with her staff, causing him to not only release Edric, but go skidding.

"Did she just do that in heels?" was Emira's first thought.

The Owl Lady walked over to the guard on the ground and inspected to see if he was still awake. When he moved she smacked him again. Then again. Then again. And one final time.

"That last one was for my own fun." She clarified as she approached the stunned twins. "Okay now you two need to get a move on before you get into any more trouble. And I need to get a move on before more guards show up. Tell you what though. If you come by my stall again we can try this all over from the beginning. I'll even give you a troublemaker's discount."

She slammed her staff against the ground and her entire stand packed itself neatly into a bag that tied itself around the end of the staff. Without any further dramatics, she flew off over the rooftops and disappeared. The Twins, having had enough excitement for one day, headed back towards the school. They could take their illusions' place and be back in classes after the last break. No one would ever know today happened.

They kept themselves hidden until then.

"So that was the infamous Owl Lady, huh? Not quite what I was expecting." Edric laughed, thinking back to the way she'd handled the guard.

"You can say that again. I was expecting someone who's dodged the Emperor's Coven for this long to be.... quieter. I just hope I look that good when I'm that old."

Edric looked at his sister and couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Em, please, please tell me you don't have the hots for the Owl Lady." He glanced at Emira between laughs and saw her face bright red. He only laughed harder, now wheezing.

Emira was now plotting how to kill her brother. Maybe she'd poison him. Maybe she'd feed him to a monster. Maybe she'd just beat him with a stick right here and now.

Edric started to make a spell circle, intending to conjure an illusion of the Owl Lady, but he stopped mid-circle. He stared into space for a moment. "Uh oh. Uh, Em? I have some bad news."

Emira massaged her temples and tried to brace herself. This just really wasn't her day. Neither was yesterday. At this rate, tomorrow wasn't looking good either. "What is it, Ed?"

"I think at some point during all the excitement my illusion broke. I can't feel its magic anymore. I think I'm gonna be in trouble." he said genuine panic setting into his voice. Emira knew it wasn't school he was worried about. It was home.

Then she heard her younger sister's voice in her head. "If you get caught, I'm telling Mom and Dad. You're already in trouble, so you probably shouldn't push it."

With a loud sigh she spun a circle in the air and dispelled her own illusion. They would go down together, she supposed. "It was probably when the guard grabbed you. I heard the gloves they wear can dispel some kinds of magic. It's not your fault, Ed."

Ed just made a frustrated grunt, before finally speaking. "I just feel like I've done nothing but screw up these past few days. Just one bad mistake after another."

Em smirked, "Yeah but that's pretty normal for you. Besides if you hadn't come to me, who knows how long it would've been before I, y'know, learned things about myself. So, I think you did that right at least."

He smiled weakly. "Yeah, I don't regret that part. Tell you what, I'll make it up to you. Now that I know your type a little a better, I'll take you to a nursing home soon. See if we can't find you an Owl Lady."

Emira was about to grab a handful of Edric's hair and try to pull it off of his head when they heard the sounds of last break beginning. This would have to wait.

They waited for the break to end so they could sneak in with the groups headed back to classes. They snuck around to the front door and opened it only to find their younger sister on the other side, waiting. And waiting with her was the very tired looking old witch, Principal Bump.

Amity was quickly dismissed to go attend her last few classes and the Twins were pulled into the Principal's Office. He droned on about responsibility and the importance of attending classes. He stressed the necessity of their studies to get them into a proper Coven.

"Now, I hope it won't be necessary to have this conversation for a fourth time. Or is this the fifth? It doesn't matter. Because of your family, I've been pressured to give you two a fair bit more leeway than students are normally given. However, I've no more slack to give. The next time you're in here will be when we start keeping a record folder. Now, get back to your classes and try to pay attention for once. Oh, and your parents have been informed of this already, if that wasn't clear."

They went back to classes but paying attention was not going to happen. The red hot ball of worry had returned, since they had no idea what would happen when they got home. This had happened before and the result was weeks of strict monitoring and curfews and eyes constantly on them. But things were different now. Who knew what their parents would do to them now.

After classes wrapped up, they walked back home with Amity. No words were spoken, but she seemed excited to get home. Their trauma seemed to be the most exciting part of her day.

When they entered their home, their Mother was waiting for them in the foyer and Amity walked slower, to allow the Twins in front.

"I received a call from the Principal today. I was told you two were caught skipping class. I will stress again the importance that you make it into a respectable Coven. Now, that will be all. You are dismissed." It was the same business formal tone as she'd used the other day. All three Blight children stood slack jawed. This was the lightest punishment they'd ever received. The Twins decided to take this chance and roll with it, quickly leaving their Mother's line of sight.

"But, they skipped class!" Amity spoke up, clearly not content with this outcome. Their Mother turned her gaze at Amity.

"That reminds me. I was also informed that you were late to classes this morning." When speaking to Amity her tone was much harsher. "Tardiness is not acceptable. You are a Blight and, as such, are expected to do great things. And great things require excellence. And Excellence is not single action, but striving every day to stay at the top. When your Father returns home, we will discuss how to prevent this in the future."

The Twins had stayed hidden around the corner hoping to hear what was said and scurried up to Emira's room when the conversation seemed to be dying down.

"Wow, I can't believe Mittens got it worse than we did." Edric smirked. This had clearly been satisfying to him on some level. It really did feel like their younger sister was out to get them, so this was somehow cathartic.

Emira, on the other hand, was less amused. "They really hate us that bad. She didn't even want to bother punishing us. She just wanted us out of her sight."

Ed had been so focused on Mittens that he hadn't even thought of it that way. She was probably right. But, in a way, he thought that was kind of freeing. If their parents didn't want to keep an eye on them anymore then maybe they could actually live a little.

He heard the sound of someone angrily stomping up the stairs. Definitely Mittens. He couldn't help but giggle a bit. He was sure her face was solid red. He looked over at Emira, expecting her to be at least smirking. She was just staring out the window with a scowl on her face. He needed to change the subject.

"Hey, wanna teach me how to put eyeliner on?" He tried his best to look innocent as he asked.

Emira turned to him and smiled. "Sure, but if you look better than me with it on, I'm waxing your eyebrows off."

"Well we're twins, so..." he trailed off as he sat down at her dresser with all of her makeup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Huh we only ever see the twins with each other. As far as we see they don't have any other friends at school and Amity's diary seems to imply that even though they are notorious troublemakers they never actually get in trouble.
> 
> My brain: Well they're incredibly minor characters, so realistically we see them alone because they only show up when they're relevant. No need to for the crew to design a whole friend group for them. And they never get in trouble because otherwise the library episode wouldn't happen.
> 
> Me: But what if it was because they were violently discriminated against by their own parents who, as punishment, seek to isolate and ostracize them. And they don't get in trouble because their parents just want nothing to do with them and do their best to neglect the twins while pretending to be civil because appearances are everything to them.
> 
> My Brain: This is probably a fine and normal thought process to have. Let's write a whole thing about it.


	3. The Library Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one in which I recap an actual episode because I thought it would be funny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to take a second to address the elephant in the room, which is the shipping tags. Particularly Edric/Jerbo and Emira/Viney. When I first started writing this thing, it was purely about the relationship between the twins and their family, particularly Amity. But I eventually started to feel like it would be important for the Twins to have some bonds that aren't direct family members. So, that will be happening, just eventually. So I guess if the shipping is all you're here for, you'll be waiting a while. You've been warned.

That had all been a couple years ago. Tensions between the twins and the rest of their family never seemed to cool. And their parents ignoring them led to the twins beginning to feel kind of invincible. So their pranks and antics ramped up and they properly became the Notorious Blight Twins. They largely stayed out of Amity's way, to not provoke their parents, but sometimes the girl was just such an easy target. Plus it really helped them hone their Illusion Magic. 

Their school life was mostly spent entertaining each other, since they didn't really have any other friends anymore. And Amity proved to be entertaining sometimes. Like a little while back when she tried to throttle an Abomination in the middle of the cafeteria.

Her old friend Willow, who the twins vaguely remembered as being kind of bad at magic in general, was absolutely horrible at Abomination Magic. But on that day she'd made some kind of unique and amazing Abomination. And of course Amity couldn't let someone else enjoy the spotlight for a moment. The Twins watched from across the room as Amity leapt up onto the table and pulled the strange looking Abomination out of its pot and began strangling and shaking it, all while yelling.

The Abominations professor pulled her off and scolded her. The Twins were wheezing and howling in their little corner.

The next major incident was the Covention. The twins hadn't actually gone, but boy had they heard about it. It was all over Penstagram.

Mittens had somehow managed to not only find a human, but challenge her to Witch's Duel. The most surprising part was that she was caught cheating. A hidden Construction Coven power glyph to boost her magic. Was she actually worried about losing to a human? When she got back home, they teased her about it, but she seemed even angrier than usual about it. It seemed to only reignite her fire for getting the twins in trouble.

But their parents, even after all this time, never did much more than brush them off, which only made Amity more determined to get something to stick. Which eventually led them here.  
Amity was trying again to get them caught skipping class. The Twins had really gotten good at making their illusions by now, so catching them in the act was terribly difficult. But Emira was determined not to take this lying down.

"Okay, we've got to teach her a lesson. She's out of control. She can't just treat everyone like trash." she rattled off to Ed, who was busy trying to adjust his hair.

"You know we're not supposed to do anything to her directly. Just ignore her."

"Oh, we're not going to do anything. She's going to do it. She's got a hidey hole somewhere in the library. It's where she goes to I don't know do secret studying? Anyways, point being I think she keeps her diary in there. I saw her go into the library with it one time, but she didn't have it with her when I came back by to pick her up. She must've left it in there. We just go, find where its hidden, take the diary and post it all over the school."

Edric stopped what he was doing and looked at her like she had a second head. "Don't you think that's going a bit far, Em?"

"If there's anything incriminating in there, then that's her fault. Besides, this will teach her to stop being horrible to everyone all the time." she shrugged.

Edric didn't really feel like that was a satisfactory answer, but at this point in his life he basically couldn't say no to Emira. "Alright. I'm in."

Amity had already headed to the library, since she did reading to the kids for extra credit. When they were on their way out, they were stopped by their Mother.

"Give this to Amity and tell her not to be so forgetful." was all she said as she thrust Amity's cute little bunny lunchbox into Edric's hands. Without giving them time to respond or even asking if they were headed to the library she turned and headed back towards the Study.

When they arrived at the library they headed straight back towards the area where they knew Amity would be. The book reading should be over by now, so they could give it to her and then start their search. It would be hard with Amity actually present, but they could manage. As they approached the room the kids were seen exiting from, they heard the sound of their sister yelling at someone.  
Looking from a safe distance they saw her yelling at some girl. A quick glance and they noticed her rounded ears. This must be the human they'd heard so much about. The poor thing looked so sad as she walked away from the encounter mumbling.

Edric was the first one to speak up. "You gonna let her get to you like that?"

She looked up at them in what they hoped was awe. "Who are you?"

Edric walked forward and placed his hand on his chest for dramatic purposes. It was always for dramatic purposes. "Well wishers on a mission."

"A noble quest!" Emira happily chimed in.

"Watch this." he said before calling out much louder. "Hey Mittens!" Causing Amity to immediately tense up. He held up the lunchbox for her to take.

"Mom said stop forgetting your lunch. And stop being such a jerk to your friends."

Amity snatched the lunchbox from his hands and practically hissed, "She is not my friend."

The poor human looked hurt by that comment, which Emira of course would not let slide. Quickly moving over to the human's side. "Yeah, that makes sense. She seems too cool for you."

"I am?" the human seemed surprised to hear her say that.

"You can leave now! All of you!" Amity called as she pointed towards the exit. She wasted no time in turning around to leave this situation. Emira couldn't help but giggle at how easy it had been to fluster Mittens. Seems like the human had her on edge.

Now they had a new goal. It was time to have some fun with the human. So they spent the day going around the library and pulling whatever pranks had crossed into their minds at that moment. Of course they were also able to conduct their search while they goofed off. Illusion Magic wasn't just good at hiding things, it was also good at finding things. It was good for detecting latent or hidden magic, which meant it didn't take them too long to find it. However they could also tell that someone was already inside. They wouldn't be able to take the diary while she was still in there. So they did the only reasonable thing and kept pulling pranks until they got themselves kicked out.

After enjoying a good laugh about the days events, they felt like they could trust the human girl enough to invite her to their wonderful plan B. The Wailing Star was supposed to pass over tonight and something magical would happen in the library, which they were interested in seeing. But also going to the library after hours would make it very easy to get into Amity's hiding spot.  
When Luz agreed, they all parted ways. The twins only went home long enough to provide an alibi for where they'd be, saying they were headed to the market, which had been true. They had to get an unlocking scroll if they were going to get into the library after hours. After that they met back up with Luz at the entrance and went inside.

Shortly after entering, the Wailing Star passed overhead and the real excitement started. Luz quickly discovered that the magic of the star had given the books the ability to project their contents into reality. Upon seeing the potential for fun, the twins silently agreed that their main goal could survive one more diversion. So they spent some time goofing around with Luz and the magic books.  
Eventually, however, their attention did turn to the original plan. So they brought Luz over with them to where they'd located the secret entrance. After pulling on a specific book, the wall opened up and revealed the secret hideaway. Luz asked if it was their hideaway, the idea of which they openly mocked. The quickly gave Luz the rundown of their plan to take the diary and post it around school.  
And so they started searching for the diary. It wasn't easy to get inside Amity's head, so there was no telling how hard it would be to find. Luz had gone to gawking at Amity's collection of those human trash witch books. After a moment of searching they noticed that Luz had gone quiet, which they already could tell wasn't normal for her.

Edric decided to speak up, hoping she'd found something. "What have you got there, Luz?"

She quickly hid the book in her hand behind her back. "Nothing! Just the Good Witch Azura 5, where she goes through her goth phase!"

Emira didn't hesitate to levitate the book out of Luz's hand and into her own. The twins both look at the book as it opened. A small image of their younger sister popped out of the book and began speaking.

"It's not fair. I'm the only one who knows Ed and Em aren't perfect. Why do they keep getting away with things?"

If Emira hadn't been so excited at the moment, she would've been more upset that even in her most private thoughts and feelings, Amity seemed to still be concerned with getting them in trouble. However instead she and Ed simply lit up with excitement and said at the same time. "This is it!"

Emira was quick to glance back up at the human. "Luz, were hiding this from us?"

Edric closed the diary as he took a step towards her. "You see how she treats people. How she treats you."

Luz put her hands up in defense as she spoke. "I know Amity can be kind of cold, but no one deserves this. These are private thoughts. Let's put it back." 

Luz quickly put her hands on the diary and tried to pull it away from the twins. Edric kept both hand clamped on the diary and pulled back with Emira trying to pull Edric himself back.

"She needs this!" He said with his sister quickly chiming in, "It's for her own good!"

During the struggle, some of the pages fell out and onto the ground. Edric saw Amity in the doorway and quickly let go of the diary. Luz, however, hadn't noticed her and once she had the diary, began scooping up the dropped pages.

"Really?!" Amity snapped, her face totally red as she saw Luz on the floor scooping up diary pages.

"It's not what it looks like!" the human called out.

The Twins couldn't help but giggle at just how angry Amity was. As far as aggravating her goes, this was probably their finest work.

"You two are the worst!" their sister called as she pointed accusingly at them. She then turned to back to Luz as she took her diary back from the human. "But you. I've been trying to figure out what your deal is. Are you a poser? A nerd? I know. You're a bully, Luz."

After saying her piece, Amity simply walked away without giving Luz a chance to speak or defend herself. Just another lovely trait Mittens shared with her Mother. Luz called out to Amity, who didn't even so much as look back. Behind her, the Twins were really getting into a good laughing fit now. Mittens calling someone else a bully? Now that was funny. But calling Luz a bully? That's hilarious.

Once they were done laughing, Emira spoke up, "Mittens killed the fun."

"Again." Edric declared. "Oh well. We're headed out to go goblin tipping. Wanna come?"

"You're just gonna leave?" Luz asked with more than a little worry in her voice.

Edric felt bad at that comment. At this point it was hard to feel too bad for Amity. Someone needed to give her a hard time. Amity was probably already headed off to tell their parents about this.

"Yeah, with you." Emira said, grabbing Luz's arm. Luz was a sweet girl. Definitely not someone that needed to stick around to be Amity's punching bag.

Luz quickly pulled her arm out of Emira's grasp. "Look, you guys are cool."

The Twins quickly cut in with an in sync "Mhm."

"But I need to talk to Mittens- I mean Amity." Seemed like there wasn't going to be any way to convince her to just walk away from this.

"Alright." Emira shot a wink at Luz. "See you around, cutie!"

And with that, the Twins left the library, unaware of anything else that happened in there that night. Once they were out in the night air, they noticed Amity wasn't outside yet. Maybe she and Luz really were having an actual discussion. Or maybe Amity just wasn't done yelling at her yet. Either way they realized they had a chance to get back home before Mittens and pretend to be asleep.  
It was the best alibi they could come up with on short notice.

Which brings us back to now, with Emira staring at her ceiling and thinking of everything that led them here. It had been a journey of ups and downs. Mostly downs, if she was being honest. Now that it was all said and done, she was starting to realize that maybe they had gone too far. Finally, she heard the sounds of Amity sneaking through the hallway.

She got out of bed and quietly moved into the hallway herself, preparing to go to Amity's room. Maybe Amity was a bit much, but she was owed an apology. "Ugh I spend one afternoon with Luz and she's already rubbing off on me." she thought to herself.

Once in the hallway she saw Edric, who clearly had the same plan.

"Going to apologize to Mittens?" he asked as if he didn't already know.

"Yeah, but you aren't." she said shoving him out of the way.

"What, I need to apologize to her too." he was trying to keep his voice down.

"If we both go in there at once, she's just gonna think we're cornering her. I'll go in now. You can catch her in the morning." Emira took charge of the situation as usual. Edric just put his hands up in defense and silently went back to his room.

After a moment's hesitation Emira knocked lightly on the door. "Go away" was the response from inside.

As though she didn't hear that, Emira opened the door anyways and stepped inside. Once inside she noticed how exhausted Amity looked. "I said, go away." she hissed.

"I know you probably won't believe me, but I wanted to apologize." Emira moved a couple steps closer to the bed.

"You're right. I don't believe you." was all Amity said as she rolled over in the bed to face away from Emira.

"I know things have been rough between us the past few years, but I wanted to-"

Amity shot up out of her bed and pointed accusingly at Emira, "You really expect me to believe that you've had a change of heart just like that? That was all your doing in there! You're not sorry, you just don't want me to tell Mom and Dad. I don't know why you're worried, because its not like you ever get in trouble."

Emira only heard some of that comment because once her sister's hand was pointed at her, she noticed something. Bruises along her arm. In a cross pattern. Bruises that hadn't been there when they left the library earlier.

Emira grabbed Amity's hand and pulled her arm closer to inspect it. "What happened to your arm? You didn't have this last time I saw you. What happened after we left? Did... Did Luz do this?"

Amity didn't believe for even a second that Emira was showing genuine concern. "No!" she cried as she yanked her arm back from Emira. "And stop trying to pretend like you care! I don't know why everyone puts up with your nonsense in this house, but I won't."

Everything from the word choice to the venom in Amity's voice reminded Emira of her Mother. It made her furious. She stood up and said "Fine!"

She calmed down a little and tried to speak more calmly. "I can't make you believe me, but I am sorry. I know you think we're so horrible because you never see us get in trouble, but I promise its not easy for us either." she moved towards the door, the memory of Amity's diary entry coming back to her. "I promise they don't think we're perfect."

She opened the door to leave, which promptly knocked over Ed, who had been pressed up against the door trying to listen. "Seriously, Ed?" was all she said as she headed back to her room. It was time to actually get some sleep now.

From the hallway Ed smiled sheepishly at Amity and waved.

"Go to bed, Ed" was all she said as she rolled over to sleep.

=======

Edric woke up early the next morning and tried to practice his apology. It actually didn't take him long to be satisfied with it and as soon as he heard the sounds of Amity getting ready, he went to knock on her door.

"Em, I don't want to hear it." Amity called from inside.

"Not Em!" he declared.

"Okay then. Ed, I don't want to hear it."

"You can either let me in now or I can bother you for the whole rest of the day. And I think we know who's going to get sick of that first."

After a long moment of consideration, she opened the door. "What do you want."

He took the initiative to step inside, which seemed to annoy her. "I just wanted to apologize. We went a little too far and-"

"Alright thanks, heard it all already. You can leave now." she tried to push him outside, but she wasn't having any luck. Especially once he grabbed her arm, just like Emira had the night before.

"What happened here? Did someone try to tie you up?" he was very gentle, trying not to irritate the bruises.

"Okay I need both of you to stop pretending like you care. Listen, I won't tell Mom and Dad. Will that get you two to leave me alone? Just stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours." she pulled her arm away and left the room.

Edric went to go wake Emira up. It wasn't a school day so she would sleep all day if you let her. He stared at her sleeping form and debated the best way to wake her up. After thinking about it for a while, he decided on a classic. Emira slept with tons and tons of pillows, so it was easy to grab one without waking her. He then proceeded to swing it as hard as he could onto her face.

She startled awake and didn't have a chance to prepare herself as the pillow came crashing down a second time. She managed to shield herself for the third swing and to push Edric away before a fourth.

"I am going to move everything in your room two inches to the left." she glared at him. Then once she woke up a little more, "Did you talk to Mittens?"

"Yeah, she didn't really want to hear anything I had to say. Oh and did you see those weird bruises on her arm?"

Emira was in the process of trying to straighten her mess of hair. "Yeah, I saw. Something happened after we left the library and she didn't want to talk about it."

"Want to bother her about it anyways?" he smirked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course. Not like we have anything better to do today."

Once Emira had made herself presentable, they headed downstairs to eat breakfast. Normally their parents were already gone at this hour, but today they were running behind it would seem.  
They no longer tried to dodge their parents all the time. In fact they kind of enjoyed keeping track of how long it took for them to suddenly cut conversation short and leave. It was a magic power they had over two of the most powerful witches on the Isles.

Instead of conversation, their Mother was giving Amity a list of instructions for something. Whatever it was, it sounded like a lot. The Twins ate their meal in quiet, letting the others pretend they weren't there. Emira was kind of surprised that Amity wasn't telling them about the library incident the night prior. Of more note to Edric was Amity. She was making sure her arm was above the table the whole time. She was trying to make their parents see her bruises. 

As the conversation went on longer and longer, he was getting more frustrated that neither of them were saying anything. Their Father had been glued to his scroll, probably responding to business messages and never once looking up. Their Mother on the other hand was looking right at Amity as she barked orders, either never noticing or never caring.

Suddenly their Father's scroll rang and he answered it, getting up and walking out the door as he spoke, leaving what remained of his meal exactly where it was. Their mother issued one last order to Amity before following after him, marking the last time the children would probably see them today.

Once they were gone Edric finally spoke up. "They didn't even notice."

Something wasn't right about all this. Amity was supposed to be favorite. The real Blight. And they didn't even notice bruises she was trying to show them?

"Ugh, I don't want to talk about this." Amity tried to eat the remainder of her food as quickly as she could, eager to get away from this table.

"I know you'd rather talk to them about it, but we're here right now. Just talk to us." Edric tried to look as sincere as possible.

"You think I'd rather talk to them? All that would get me is a lecture about being out so late. For a start anyways. And you two are terrible. You're probably only prying so you can post something embarassing. No, I think I'll do what I always do and talk to nobody. I used to vent in my diary, but someone ruined that too."

Edric looked nervously at Emira. There was too much about their perception of Little Miss Perfect that wasn't adding up here. She didn't trust their parents either?

Emira sighed and traced a spell circle in the air. A bright blue barrier appeared around them, preventing any of them from leaving the table. "Don't bother trying to smash it with an Abomination unless you're prepared to clean Abomination goo off of Mom's tile."

Amity's face got red again. "What is your problem? Did you not hear that I got a whole list of stuff to do today? And you two got nothing. As always. I have to work so hard to keep them happy, but you two can just do whatever you want and they brush it off like its no big deal. I don't get that luxury."

Edric started chuckling a little bit before it transformed into full laughter. Emira looked at him nervously and then back to the now both confused and angry Amity.

"Em, she thinks we're the favorites. Mittens, they're not giving us a free pass, they hate us." he managed to say it with a smile on his face. It was something he'd come to terms with by now.

Emira rubbed her temples. This conversation was a few years coming, but she wished it could wait a few more.

"What? Why would you say that?" Amity seemed genuinely confused. Genuinely very confused.

"Because its true." she said frankly. "I guess its time to come clean. We got kind of, sort of, slightly disowned."

Amity sat back down, in shock. "Why? When?"

"A couple years back. Don't know if you even remember that night. Uh, we missed school that day and when you came back you were told we were in trouble somehow. It was that night." Edric tried to describe the most traumatic night of their life, quickly realizing that from Amity's point of view it was probably a totally ordinary night.

He couldn't believe it. This weird rivalry between them had all been based on them assuming they knew what the other was going through.

"No, I don't remember any specific night like that, sorry. Are you two being serious? Like please don't joke about this." Amity couldn't help but fear that this was yet another prank, but they seemed more serious than she thinks she's ever seen them.

"Nope, totally serious. We're only welcome here until we join a Coven. Then we have to figure out our own living situation." Emira said to the stunned Mittens.

"That's crazy. That's monstrous. I could see them doing that, though. Do you guys remember Willow?" She hoped the topic shift didn't seem too sudden, but it was time for a confession of her own.

"Was that the one with three eyes?" Edric said, trying to recall which one Willow was.

"Half a Witch" Emira said plainly. She knew what people said. It was hard not to.

Edric seemed embarrassed that hearing her awful nickname was what made him remember who she was.

"Yeah." Amity said sadly. "That day I chased her out of here, it was because they made me. They said that I was only supposed to be friends with strong witches. They said they wouldn't allow her into Hexside if I didn't chase her away."

"That's terrible!" Edric said, feeling his blood run cold. Titan above he and Em had really left this poor girl all alone with these monsters.

Emira on the other hand, felt her blood boiling. Sure this was the first time she and Amity had gotten along in years, but she was feeling like she'd rip their parents apart on her behalf.

"So, I believe you when you say they'd do something that drastic. But I still have to ask why. Because you never actually answered that."

Edric smiled and stood up, seemingly eager for this. "I, Edric Blight, have been charged with the high crime of....." he paused for dramatic effect, "Liking guys instead of girls."

Emira didn't seem up for the dramatics. "And I like girls instead of guys. That's it. That's the big plot twist."

Amity didn't know how to process this. Several sentences tried to come out of her mouth at once and after a deep breath she was able to switch to just regular anger.

"For that? That's crazy! That's archaiac! It's barbaric! It's...." she trailed off as she looked back to her older siblings. "I am so sorry. You don't deserve this. And I'm sorry for acting the way I have. I just thought you were up on some pedestal and I desperately wanted to see you brought down a peg. I should've thought about it a little harder."

"It's fine. We should've realized you weren't some kind of straight As robot. You're just a scared kid too. Sorry for throwing you to the monsters, kid." Edric sat back down.

"Yeah, we're not gonna treat you like that anymore. We always thought we were outsiders in this family. Sorry for treating you like it. That's behind us now. We've got your back." Emira smiled at Amity, her smile was warmer than Amity ever remembered seeing it.

"Thanks." Amity said, before leaning back in her chair again still a bit shocked by the conversation. "So that's enough to get you disowned in this family, huh?" the sudden realization of what this could mean for her was hitting her hard.

"Apparently." Emira answered in a tone far too cheery for Amity's liking.

"Okay, not that this hasn't been touching, but you still have to tell us about the library." Edric hadn't forgotten what they had originally set out to talk about here.

"Oh. Right." Amity had completely forgotten to talk about that. She took her time and tried to explain everything that happened after she last saw the twins, which involved getting dragged away by a giant, evil version of the children's book character she'd been reading for as long as she could remember.

Edric remembered taking Luz's hand and doodling claws and fangs onto the Otobin book to show her how it was done. It hadn't been done with ill intent it was just another dumb Edric move.

Amity talks about the monster using a giant needle and thread to attempt to sew her into his book and when it was pulled tight her arm had been flattened like it was paper. That was likely the cause of the bruises.

Then her tone seems to soften a bit as she describes Luz coming in to save her, dressed like the character from those books she loved so much. And how, sure, she was instantly disarmed and nearly sewn into the book as well, but she had put herself in danger to try to save Amity. It was Luz's plan that got them away from it to begin with. She talked about how brave and stupid the human had been.

It hadn't escaped Emira how much softer Amity's voice was when speaking about Luz now. Last she'd seen the two Amity probably would've thrown her off of a cliff.

"And that's basically what happened." Amity looked at the Twins, hoping that had satisfied them.

"Thanks for telling us. And sorry we bailed right before all that happened. We had no idea. Now, we're gonna help you with that list of chores." Edric seemed all too happy to offer up their services, especially after what they'd just been told.

"We are?" Emira looked at Edric, then back to Amity. "Of course we are!"

"Okay, I gotta go run upstairs and grab some stuff, then we can go!" Edric tried to get up and leave, but quickly was reminded that they were still in a magic bubble. Emira rolled her eyes and dispelled the bubble, allowing Edric to go sprinting out of the room, leaving just Amity and herself at the table.

"So, um" Amity began, clearly trying to find the words. "I only ever see you hanging out with Ed at school. Is there anyone you're interested in?"

Emira smirked at her normally confident sister asking a simple question so meekly. "There's a couple cuties here and there, but no one I'd really say I'm super into just yet. Lucky for me I've already got the troublemaker thing going on, so I don't really have to commit or anything. Just steal a few kisses here and there."

Amity's face went bright red and it seemed that she had no follow up thoughts. Emira couldn't help but laugh out loud at the reaction she got. So, she decided to use the private moment to push her luck a bit.

"So how about you? Any girls you're into out there?"

Amity nearly fell out of her chair at the accusation. "I-I-I'm not! I didn't-" she was pulled out of her stuttering mess by Emira wheezing with laughter on the other side of the table. Of course she was messing with her.

Amity glared at her sister, clearly still flustered. Whatever barbs she was about to exchange with Em were lost when Ed came back with several bags in his hands.

"Aw, did I miss a fun part?" He looked at the still giggling Emira, who was trying to speak but failing.

"Yes!" was all she was able to squeak out.

Edric and Amity gave her a few moments to compose herself, before they allowed things to continue. With only a little more joking and teasing, they finally set out to start their day.

=======

Their list of chores had been more mundane than expected, mostly picking things up around Bonesborough. Everyone had handfuls of bags at this point. Especially Ed, who had the bags he'd brought from home with him. A couple hours into the journey, he dramatically revealed that they contained snacks and drinks.

They were about done with list when they decided to stop and sit down for a minute once they found a safe place to rest. Emira had spent the past half hour complaining about how much walking they were doing and continued to complain once they'd stopped to rest.

Emira needed something to drink if she was going to continue her whining, so she reached into one of Ed's bags and grabbed a black container and quickly opened it to knock back a drink.

Edric saw this happening and said nothing, but his eyes had lit up with excitement when he saw her take a drink. Excitement that quickly became laughter as she spat the concoction back out and threw the container at her brother. She quickly bolted off to go find something to get this out of her mouth.

The pile of black goo she'd spat out was trying to slide away to freedom before Ed picked it back up and put it back in the container. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cloth to clean his hands off with.

Amity allowed herself to laugh a little at the antics. "So, what did Em just try to drink?"

"Goo Demon. I was gonna let it loose in the market or something, but this was way better. Her tongue is gonna be black for a week." He still snickered a few times.

Amity suddenly seemed much more serious. "Ed, I really want to say thanks. For helping me out today. I'm not sure I could've gotten all this done on my own."

He put a hand on her shoulder, hoping to comfort her. "It's not a problem. You're not alone anymore. We've got your back."

"Thanks. I've just been thinking a lot since the library incident. About a lot of things. Some of those things I'm still trying to figure out. And when I figure it out a bit more I hope I can come talk to you guys about it." Amity seemed so small and frail as she spoke. Completely unlike Ed had ever seen her.

"Of course! Not to brag, but I happen to be the best listener on the Boiling Isles!" He said, intending to brag at least a little.

Their little moment was ruined when Emira came back, absolutely furious. She grabbed Edric by the collar and began to shake him. "What was that?! Why does it taste so bad? I can still taste it!"

Ed pulled her off of him and pulled the container back out, opening it to show Emira. "It's-"

She snatched the open container out of his hand and tried to force it into his mouth. "You drink it!"

Edric was quickly up sputtering and coughing out black goo. He spent a while doubled over coughing and retching a little. Finally he just sat up, looking exhausted. "I think I swallowed the eyeball."  
The twins were surprised to see Amity laughing as much as she was. Sure, she was still laughing at them, but now she was laughing at them with them. The Twins spent the next few minutes trying to get the taste out their mouth using drinks modified with Illusion Magic to make the taste several times stronger. It mostly worked.

Once the excitement calmed down, the group decided to head home, their chores all finished. When their Mother seemed displeased that the twins had spent so much time with Amity, their little sister was quick to defend them.

"I never could have gotten all that done on my own. At least not without getting all your stuff covered in Abomination residue." The look on their Mother's face indicated that she hadn't thought about that and was quite disgusted by the prospect. The Twins wasted no time in escaping their Mother's line of sight as usual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're still here, thank you very much! I am very grateful for all comments and kudos and support that you've all given! This has been a particularly self-indulgent project and I'm glad that people other than me can enjoy it!


	4. Campfire Chats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to The Knee brings a new revelation to the Blight children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know that Adventures In the Elements has some of the best character moments in the series for the Twins. Especially Edric. Bless Edric in that episode. That said I'm not recapping an episode again unless I have to.

Things went quiet for a while for the Blight children. Well until they took a trip out to The Knee to help Amity learn a new spell. Their Mother had wanted Amity's mentor Lillith to accompany her, but when they couldn't get a hold of her, she elected to send the Twins with her instead. They had gotten a stern lecture on the importance of not attempting to influence Amity, which frankly was the longest single "conversation" they'd had with her in ages.

They had a very exciting adventure on The Knee that the author will not recap here because you've hopefully seen the actual episode. Yes its a cop-out.

After watching Luz and the Owl Lady go flying into the distance, the siblings decided to start packing things up themselves. While they were breaking down the tent, Amity suddenly spoke up.

"Can we stay just a little longer?"

"If we want to make it back before nightfall, we probably should start heading out, Mittens." Emira explained without looking away from what she was doing.

"Come on, Em! I'm not ready to go back home yet! Just one more hour, please!" Amity employed her best darling younger sister face.

Emira stopped taking down the tent and turned towards her younger sister with a stern look on her face. "Absolutely not. Thanks to the Slitherbeast there's basically no way we can even make it home in time at all now and certainly not if we stayed another hour."

Edric walked up beside her to complete the duo, trying his best to look serious as well. It didn't take him long to crack a smirk. "So, the only real choice is to stay one more night and just head out early in the morning." he said as he turned to Emira who now also had a smile on her face. They proceeded to whoop and cheer each other on.

"Thanks, guys!" Amity seemed to cheer up. "I'll be back soon!" she proceeded to turn around and head into the woods.

"Stay away from the Slitherbeast!" Emira called out as their younger sister disappeared into the trees. She was quickly messaging their parents on her scroll to let them know of their plan to stay another night and head straight to classes in the morning. She made sure to mention what amazing progress Amity was making and how she had basically beaten a Slitherbeast all by herself. The message got no response, which was probably the best answer she could possibly get.

"I can't believe she begged us to stay and then immediately ditches us." Edric said, squinting to try to see if he could spot her through all the trees.

"I think the decision to stay has more to do with not going home than spending time with us, so we shouldn't take it too personally." Behind the Twins the half-taken down tent collapses completely.

"Oh, right." they say in unison.

After rebuilding the tent the duo spent the next hour or so completely destroying each other with snowballs. The top students of the Illusion Track could easily alter the size or shape or number of snowballs with ease, and thus their battle was truly one for the ages. The winds of The Knee would whisper of it for years to come.

They agreed to ceasefire and started a fire to try to warm themselves up now that they had snow everywhere. It was Emira to first notice setting sun.

"Ed, stay here. I'm gonna go look for Amity. I'll call for you if I need help, so be ready I guess." She got up and headed into the woods, following the now difficult to see trail of footprints that Amity had left behind.

After a few minutes of following the footprints, she found a strange circle in the snow. It looked kind of like one of Luz's glyphs, but Emira hadn't really gotten a close enough look at them to know exactly what those looked like.

As she kept along the path there were more and more circles like it, each a little different. Some of them had handprints on them and some of them had footprints. Was this where Luz practiced making that new ice glyph? She wondered how many tries it would take to get a working glyph and how the human even knew which shapes would work. It seemed really overwhelming to even think about.

Eventually she came to a clearing in the woods where she found Amity, who was surrounded by dozens of the glyphs, having just finished drawing one. After looking at it for a moment, the younger girl stomped her foot on it with all her might. A brief hesitation, she let out a sigh.

"What's going on here, Mittens?" Emira made her presence known, which seemed to startle Amity.

"Em! When did you get here?" She looked at her surroundings and seemed to only just now notice the changing colors of the sky. "Oh, when did it get so late?"

"Hard to say. So, you gotta tell me what's up with all this? It looks like one of Luz's glyphs." Emira crouched down and traced her finger along one of the glyphs in front of her.

"Yeah. I was trying to make her new ice glyph. I can't get it right, no matter how many times I try. I just can't remember the shapes." Amity sat down on a nearby rock, looking frustrated with herself.

"Did you help her make it while the Slitherbeast had us?" There wasn't enough room for Emira to join her sister on the rock, but she did make a point to hover near her.

"No. She figured it out all on her own while I went off to try to save you myself. She said she even used it to get around a barrier spell I put up to keep her safe."

Emira looked around at the dozens of glyph attempts, then back to her sister. "Pretty incredible, huh?"

Amity just smiled softly. "Yeah, she is."

The older Blight couldn't help but smile as she put her hand on Amity's shoulder. "I meant the glyphs, but yeah Luz is amazing too."

Amity's face lit up red when she realized what she'd said. "I- I uh, I mean..." she let herself trail off in a defeated huff and then her eyes started shimmering like she was about to cry.

Emira got down on her knees in the snow so that she was sitting eye level with Amity. "Hey, hey its alright. Nothing to get upset over, I was just joking around."

Amity took a deep breath and it sounded like she'd swallowed something which seemed to compose her somewhat. "Em, you remember when I said I'd been thinking about stuff since the library? I said I wanted to talk to you guys when I felt more ready. I think I'm ready. Let's go back to camp with Ed."

Amity held firmly onto Emira's hand the whole trip back, clinging to it like a scared child. Maybe because that's what she was in this moment. As they headed back in silence Emira had a feeling that she knew what conversation they were about to have. And her mind was racing, trying to figure out the best things to do and say. She wished she had more time to think. More time to come up with the perfect words that would help Amity through this.

The sun sets fast on the Boiling Isles and even though it wasn't a long walk back to camp, it was dark by the time they met up with Edric around the fire. He instantly took note of their faces and stood up. "Everything alright?" his voice was filled with worry.

"It's time for a family talk." Emira nodded to him as she led Amity to a dry seat and he nodded back understanding.

There was a long silence as they waited for Amity to figure out what she wanted to say. The twins didn't say a word, no matter how many minutes ticked by.

"I.... I think I like Luz. I think. I'm not totally sure." Amity finally said, shockingly plainly.

"You think?" Edric asked before Emira could say anything. Not that she would have. Emira, despite her usual take charge nature, was so lost in her own thoughts. Her words had to be perfect. This had to be perfect. 

"I-I don't know! I've never really thought about this kind of stuff before. I think that's what I'm feeling, but -I don't know- what if I'm just looking for attention? Or something?" Amity's eyes darted back and forth between the twins, like she couldn't decide who she wanted to gauge more.

"These kinds of things can be confusing. Why don't you tell us what you like about Luz? It'll be easy to tell if you just want attention based on how you answer that. And take as long as you need." Edric beat Emira to the punch again. Emira was remembering how her own coming out had gone and what an incredible support Ed had been back then. He was always much more in tune with emotions than she was and it made him invaluable at times like this.

Amity leaned back and seemed to think about it for a moment. The longer she dwelt on it, the redder her cheeks got. That was all the proof Ed needed, but this wasn't his decision to make.

"She's really nice. Too nice, I'd even say. Even when I was being horrible to her, she never gave up and just kept being nice to me. When she's helping people, she always puts everything she has into it. Even when she's not helping people. She always gives everything her absolute all. And she's brilliant too! Her glyphs are amazing and she does that all on her own! She's really set her mind on being a witch and something like being human isn't even close to enough to stop her." Amity's face only reddened as she spoke, but she also could not stop a smile from coming to her lips.

Emira just stared at the smile on Amity's face. Had she ever seen this girl smile like that?

"Well it doesn't sound like you're just after attention to me. It just sounds like you've met someone amazing. It also kinda sounds like you made your decision mid-rant there." Ed couldn't help but to throw some teasing in.

"I guess so, huh?" Amity's smile hadn't let up and she looked like she was positively beaming, just thinking about the human. Her grin just seemed to widen and widen until finally she just threw her hands in the air excitedly. "I like Luz! I like Luz! I even said it out loud! I like Luz!!" 

"That's the spirit! So, how are you gonna tell her?" Edric leaned forward in excitement, eager to share this moment with his younger sister.

"I don't know!" Amity's excitement was still bubbling over until she thought about what had just been said. She proceeded to deflate. "I don't know. I mean, I don't even know if she likes girls. She's like the most important friend I have. I wouldn't ever want to risk that for something selfish like this."

"It's not selfish!" Emira finally spoke up. It hadn't been lost on either Amity or Edric that she'd been silent the whole time. She spoke a little more calmly after a breath. "It's not selfish. This is part of who you are. And there's nothing wrong with pursuing that. Take your time and go at your own pace. Don't force it, but don't run away from it either."

"I'll try. I guess whenever I actually want to ask her out, I'll need your advice Em." Amity's smile at that moment seemed so fragile. There was still more bothering her, but she was learning to lean on her siblings for support.

Ed's face lit up at that comment. It was a face they all knew by now. It was usually immediately followed by wheezing uproarious laughter.

"You want Em's advice? You'd be better off asking me!" he had trouble speaking between laughs.

Amity looked at Emira who was nervously moving around and also trying to figure out if pushing Edric's head in the campfire would kill him or not. "Okay so I might have exaggerated a bit with regards to my smoothness with the ladies."

And that set Edric to howling. Emira kicked him off of his seat and into the cold snow, but it didn't stop his laughter. Once he composed himself, instead of sitting back in the seat he stood upon it and got himself ready for his presentation. A quick spell circle in the air and an illusion of Emira approaching another girl was manifested in the air. Amity recognized the second girl, but didn't know who she was. She had her hair in a messy bun and wore a dark grey uniform. Must be the Detention Track. Her most distinct characteristic was the fishhook earring she wore.

"H-hi!" the red-faced illusion of Emira spoke, while the real thing sunk deep into her seat and fumed with embarassment. She was already trying to plot revenge.

"Hey." the other girl said glancing up from her scroll. "What's up?"

The illusion Emira instantly set to panic. "I'm not up to anything! I just came here to talk. To you. And we're talking."

The other girl giggled a bit. "So we are. So to what do I owe the honor of a visit from one of the Blight Twins?"

"The honor is all me. All mine! The honor is all mine." Emira was completely red-faced as she made exaggerated movements as though that would cover up her slip ups.

The other girl simply laughed again. "You're looking a bit red there, Blight. Are you okay? I'm not supposed to be doing any Healing magic, but I know a few things if you're not feeling good."

"I'm pretty girl. Pretty good! I'm fine. I just, uh, remembered that I set my brother on fire and I need to go save him. Bye, c-cutie!" Emira nearly sprinted away at that last remark, not giving the poor other girl a chance to respond or process what in the name of the Titan this encounter had been.

The illusion dispersed in a shower of sparks as Edric proceeded to sit back down in his seat.

"That was rough to watch." Amity finally said, shooting a grin towards Emira who was completely sunken into her seat. "I hope I don't ever sound like that."

Ed wasn't quite done yet. "There was also the time she introduced herself as Edric. And the time she tried using a note but she was so nervous that she completely ripped it to shreds."

"You're single too!" Emira really wished she had a better come back than that, but that was really the best she had right now, flustered as she was.

"Yes, but that's for lack of trying, not because I embarrassed myself several times in a row."

"Lack of trying?" Amity seemed genuinely curious what he meant by that.

"Ugh, its complicated. Finding a guy that looks cute and doesn't have like a gross macho personality is harder than it should be. Maybe my standards are just too high, but I haven't really put myself out there. I was thinking once I was in a Coven I might start really trying to put myself out there." Immediately Edric wished he hadn't mentioned joining a Coven. For the twins that thought always carried a lot of extra baggage.

The change in atmosphere was instant and sobering. They'd managed to dance around it so far, but now the subject seemed so tangible and unavoidable. The Blight Parents. There was a long silence.

"What am I gonna tell them?" Amity squeaked out, sounding afraid and frail once more.

Emira stood up, her eyes fixed on Amity. "Nothing. You don't owe them this. You don't owe them anything. No matter what they want you to think. Now, listen to me Amity."

Emira walked over and placed an arm on Amity's shoulder and Edric got up to do the same, both making sure she knew that she wasn't alone.

"This is your business to figure out on your terms. Do not let them control this. We'll protect you. If you need us to cover for you or keep them busy or whatever else you might need, all you need to do is ask. We're gonna take care of you and we won't let them hurt you."

Amity couldn't stop herself from tearing up. It was strange to admit, but she'd never felt as safe as this. Never felt like she belonged like this. She'd never felt loved like this.

"Thank you..." was all she was able to say.

They stood out in the snow with her for a while before deciding to get some rest for the trip back home in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a couple end notes here.
> 
> 1\. Sorry this is a shorter chapter. It was just nice and self-contained so I cut it here. Next chapter is much longer because its time to start moving things towards Grom!  
> 2\. I wanted Amity's "I like Luz!" scene to parallel Luz's "I just did magic!" scene from The Intruder. In my head they're similarly electric moments for the respective characters.


	5. Grom Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This year's Grom promises to be tumultuous for the Blight children, especially Amity who has been crowned this year's Grom Queen.

Since they needed to be up very, very early in order to get ready and catch a ride back to the main body and make it to school on time, obviously Amity would have to wake the Twins up.

She thought about raising an abomination to wake them, but decided instead to let our best and loudest scream. Edric woke up with a start, instincitvely drawing a spell circle in the air. Emira, on the other hand, grunted and rolled over, clinging her blanket tighter. Once Ed was awake enough to be aware of himself and his surroundings, he and Amity came to the agreement that the best way to wake Em was to rip the blanket off of her.

It worked like a charm. An angry, angry charm. Between the three of them, they'd brought basically everything they needed to get themselves ready and what they lacked Illusion Magic could make up for. 

The ride back to the Body was shockingly beautiful with the sun only just beginning to peek out. As they got further from The Knee, everything warmed up which prompted them to magically turn their warm winter gear into their usual school uniforms.

Once they were back on the mainland it was a simple walk to Hexside. Amity had her Abomination carrying some of her books and things for her. How she kept those books clean was a complete mystery to the Twins. Edric urged Amity to go on ahead of them on her own having spotted Luz flying in with her mentor out of the corner of his eye. Amity proceeded ahead and greeted the human and congratulated her.

"Aw, that's sweet." He said shooting a glance at his sister. "We really should give them some space."

Emira grinned. "Of course. At this point its morally upstanding to skip our classes. So we don't get in Mittens' way."

"We are such good siblings." Ed simply nodded as they both made their illusion doubles. At this point they were the undisputed top of the Illusion Track at Hexside and not even the school's staff could tell their illusions from the real thing.

======

The Twins really should have expected it to be a whirlwind of a day. After all, Luz was involved which meant it could never be too boring. But when they returned to school near the end of the day to slip back into classes they immediately saw that classes wouldn't be happening. Apparently the school had been attacked by some magic eating monster while they were away.

The Demon Hunters Association had already hauled the actual monster away, leaving only the trail of property damage and shaken up witches as proof of the encounter. They hurried around, trying to make sure Amity was okay when they saw Principal Bump interviewing Luz and a few other students.

Luz seemed as excited and energetic as usual, so no surprise there. The actual surprise was her uniform, which featured multicolored sleeves and leggings where they should have been a single color to indicate a Coven Track. The students also being interviewed all also had unusual uniforms even though theirs were only split between two colors each.

Emira immediately recognized the girl beside Luz wearing what seemed to be Healing and Beastkeeping Track colors. She'd have recognized her anyways, but Ed's illusion of her humiliating herself in front of the same girl was still fresh in her mind from last night. One of the Detention Track students. Ed's eyes seemed to be glued on the nervous looking guy next to her. Abominations and Plant Track colors. How had he never noticed someone like this before?

They were both startled by the sound of Amity clearing her throat behind them.

"So when our school gets attacked by a greater basilisk and I end up getting my magic drained and nearly eaten, I find myself worrying. I hope Ed and Em are okay! And so as soon as I was able to stand up I hurried to the Illusion classes. I half expected to find you two passed out in a heap. What do I see in there? I see my darling siblings diligently taking notes. It's very noble that you two care so much about your studies that you didn't even stop while the school was under attack." Amity glared at the Twins as she motioned to the Illusion doubles that had followed behind her.

Ed's Illusion mouths the word "Sorry" to him before the illusion could be dispelled.

"Okay so we skipped classes on the first day back. We just wanted to stay out of your way." Ed tilted his head in Luz's direction to emphasize what he meant.

"It looks like everything worked out! We're very sorry and we promise not to do it again. For now." Emira tried to calm her sister and really hoped that Amity would take the last part as a joke.

"I just don't want you two getting in trouble. Now classes are cancelled for the rest of today. I'll fill you guys in on the way home." Amity turned and led the way for the trio to head back home. They'd really enjoyed their time away from home, but knew it couldn't last forever.

As they headed home Amity told them about the fake Emperor's Coven inspector who turned out to be an incredibly rare magic eating creature. She told them about how Luz had bravely rushed to save the day. Oh and the Detention Track students helped a little. Which reminded her to tell them that Principal Bump was allowing the former Detention Track students to become the school's first ever Dual Track Students and Luz as the first All Tracks Student.

"Wow. We miss one day and Bump goes total rogue on us." Edric sounded genuinely surprised. "Didn't think he had it in him."

"Yeah, mixing magic is kind of a big deal. Not sure the Emperor's Coven will be totally down with it. But I'm glad for it! People should be able to choose what they want." Emira was mostly talking about Luz and how happy she looked.

"Bump wouldn't make a decision like this without some kind of plan in place. He's usually pretty thorough." Amity seemed confident when she spoke about their Principal. The Twins realized that she probably knew him much better than they did since they only really spoke to Bump when they were in trouble. 

Amity turned to the twins and smiled. "So, since you left your darling sister behind to get attacked by a Basilisk, that means you two owe me one."

Emira groaned, "What do you want?"

"Basilisk attack or no, Luz and I had already planned to do our Azura Book Club today at the library. So, I need you two to come up with a good story to tell Mom and Dad. Thanks, bye!" Amity immediately sprinted away as soon as she'd made her demands, not giving them a chance to decline.

"Should we change her name from Mittens to Smitten?" Edric couldn't help but laugh at his own joke.

"We definitely have to do something to offset all this mushy good sibling junk we've been up to lately. We'll need to brainstorm something harmless, but definitely undesirable. Oh! What if we sneak into the library and spy on her little club with Luz?" Emira seemed excited about the idea and was already making the plans when Ed surprised her.

"Absolutely not. She deserves some privacy. Especially about this. Besides I don't think we need to turn the library into a more traumatic place for her. Let's just do the reasonable and responsible thing and change all the labels on her Abomination ingredients." It was rare for Edric to turn down Emira's ideas. He was usually all for following her lead.

Emira huffed a little and muttered to herself "I just wanted to be a little nosy..."

When the Twins finally arrived home, they were instantly accosted by their Mother. This was the first time they'd been home since setting out for The Knee and she seemed quite upset that Amity wasn't with them, especially since news of the attack on Hexside had reached her ears.

Edric quickly came up with a convincing story about Amity staying behind to help with clean up. For extra credit of course.

"She's such an inspiration, always working hard to better her future!" Emira gave her best fake smile and innocent face to help the story seem more real.

"If only you two took that inspiration to heart." Their Mother sneered at them as she picked something up off the counter and showed it to the twins.

They expected it to be a notice from Principal Bump about something they'd done recently or something like that, but were surprised to see a poster for Grom. In all the excitement they had kind of forgotten that Grom was coming up soon.

"Considering your marks in school we intend to see if we can enroll you two in the Fast Track program next year. If accepted, this would mark your last Grom before you graduate. You'll be attending. We have left in your rooms a list of acceptable partners that you may choose from. Remember that appearances are everything. You are dismissed." She, as always, spoke quickly, cordially and with a stern finality.

As always the Twins retreated to their old sanctuary. Emira's room. Edric made a brief stop by his own room to grab his disgusting list of suitors.

When he returned he saw Emira getting herself worked up. She was livid.

"I completely forgot about the Fast Track program! I should have known they would try to rush us out of here!" she paced around the room flailing her arms around wildly for emphasis. She turned to Ed thrusting her list in his face.

"And this list is disgusting! They already know I don't want to go to Grom with any of these guys."

Edric grabbed her list and looked at it. Sure enough it was all guys. He didn't even need to look at his list to know what it said.

"They don't care if we're happy, they just need us to take a couple more glamour photos." Emira threw herself onto the bed in frustration.

"Yeah, but we already knew that." Ed said plainly. "I don't know what to do about the Fast Track situation. I really don't. But I have a fun idea for Grom."

Emira forced herself to sit up and look at him. "Go back to The Knee and get eaten by the Slitherbeast instead?"

"No, but that's a good backup. We'll keep it in mind. What if I went out with a girl that you wanted to go out with and you go out with a guy I wanted to go out with? We go take the pictures they want then when the action starts, we can swap partners. And maybe leave Grom with some good memories for once?"

Emira looked like she was thinking about it. Once the fight with Grom started surely no one would even be looking at them. Maybe it was actually a decent idea.

"I kinda like that idea actually. I still haven't ever had a real dance at Grom." Emira couldn't help but smile at the thought. "Okay, let's do it! I want to make this last Grom something to remember!"

They set about going through the lists and trying to decide who their real dates would be. Most of the people on the list were names they recognized as kids of business partners, but after really pruning the list down they were able to find some people that were probably tolerable to spend time around.

Unbeknownst to the Twins their Father stood right outside Emira's door. He had come to speak with them about the Fast Track program and had overheard their plan. He stood in silence outside of the door for a long time, seemingly contemplating his next move. He reached to knock on the door before deciding better of it and turning around to head back downstairs.

The rest of the night passed as normal. Amity returned from her "extra credit" with an unusual smile on her face. Her parents didn't seem to notice or if they did, they certainly didn't care. She was chastised for being out late, but praised for her diligence. Once upstairs, she knocked on the door to Em's room and was let inside.

She didn't expect to see the Twins hunched over in the floor with what looked like a complex set of notes and lists.

"How was smooch club?" Ed teased, watching Amity light up red at the comment.

"Book club was a lot of fun. What are you two up to in here? Are you actually studying?" she started to reach for some of their notes before Emira swatted her hand away.

"Please don't insult us like that. We wouldn't be caught dead. We're just busy way overthinking who to take to Grom." Emira handed the Grom poster to Amity who looked like this was also the first time she'd thought about Grom.

"I totally forgot. And you two need to be careful about this. I really don't want you to get hurt." Amity put the Grom poster down and picked up one of the pages that had many names crossed out.

At the top it read "Acceptable Suitors for Edric" with a list of names that Amity more or less recognized. It took only an instant to notice that these were all girls' names. She felt a pit in her stomach as she was reminded that what little praises and smiles her parents gave her, it was all conditional.

"This is horrible. Are you really going to do this?" she looked more worried than either of her siblings felt like she should be.

"Yeah, Em's taste is pretty horrible, I agree." Edric said, taking the list back from Amity. "Relax, Mittens. We've got a plan. Once the fight with Grom starts, we're gonna switch partners. I spend a night with a cute guy and Em gets her dance with a cute girl. We finally walk away from Grom with a smile."

"That sounds sweet. Dangerous, but sweet. I just couldn't stand to see them do anything else to you. So, be careful." Amity stood up and made her way towards the door.

"Hold up!" Emira called out, jumping to her feet. "Don't think you're getting out of this. I don't want to rush it, especially not this soon, but are you going to take you know who to Grom?"

Amity froze up. "I-I don't even know if I'm going to Grom! I haven't gone to the past few, so why would I this time?" 

"I think you should do it." Edric had been sitting on his legs, which were now thoroughly asleep, so standing up wasn't an option. Instead he awkwardly shifted around to properly face Amity. "If you're worried about other people, once the fight starts no one would even so much as look at you. And you know we'll help you out!"

Amity let out a sigh and put her hand back on the door, signaling that she was ready to leave. "It's not other people I'm worried about. I don't know if its a risk I'm willing to take yet, but I'll think on it."

As always Amity simply walked away when she was ready for the conversation to end. 

=======

The next morning their parents were already gone, but they'd left behind a form for Ed and Em to fill out regarding their Grom date choices. They eagerly filled it out, the absurdity of needing to do paperwork for this not being lost on them. The form itself indicated that after filling out the names of their carefully selected dates and a few other details no further action would be required of Edric and Emira aside from showing up at Grom.

The days seemed to fly by after that for the Twins. Well actually it went by very slowly because in order to keep Amity happy they were actually attending their classes. But boring lectures on the uses and flexibility of Illusions aside, the days truly did fly by. They spent an entire afternoon shopping around to find the proper outfits for the big day. Deciding to go with matching outfits that would compliment their golden eyes was a relatively easy choice.

With only a few days to go, they kept their eyes on Amity, wondering what her choice would be. One night they saw her hurrying to her room as soon as she got home from school and she seemed reluctant to leave it, needing to be called down for dinner three separate times.

Once the meal was done, she hurried back up to her room and the twins were quick to follow. With the help of magic they let themselves into her room and were surprised when she didn't kick them out instantly. She sat at her desk with a stack of papers and the bin beside it full of discarded and crumpled ones as well. Without saying a word they peered over to see that she was attempting to write a note asking Luz out to Grom.

Every turn of phrase seemed either too formal or too casual for Amity's liking as they watched her write and then discard at least seven attempts in but a few minutes. They said nothing. No teasing or anything. They hoped it would come across as silent support, daring not speak of what she was doing loudly enough for their parents to hear.

However, it seemed that their presence was considered a bother, which Amity made clear by forcing them out with an Abomination. Amity stayed up late trying to find the perfect words and eventually forced herself to be satisfied with a simple proposal. While she slept Ed and Em snuck into her room and made sure to get rid of all the failed attempts in a way that their parents would never find them, even finding one that had rolled under her bed waiting to be discovered by otherwise prying eyes.

=======

And finally they arrived at just a couple days before Grom, nerves beginning to settle in. Thanks to Emira they were running a little more behind than usual. They nearly knocked each other over sprinting to make it to class. However when they rounded the corner before the Illusions Track homeroom, they saw Amity sitting down in front of it, clutching her books as tightly as she could.

"Mittens? Is everything alright? You're gonna be late to class." Emira knew something must wrong for her to be so far away from the Abominations class at this time.

Amity looked up at them, her grom proposal note clutched tightly in her hand. She started to say something, but worry and fear choked her words and she just tried to steady her breathing instead.

Edric noticed the note in her hand and assumed the worst. Amity had been rejected.

"Mittens, I'm so sorry. It's gonna be okay. We're here with you." He sat down next to her and Emira quickly joined, the trio now sitting in the hall together. "But at least you tried! And I can't stress how brave that makes you."

"What are you talking about?" Amity finally spoke up.

"You gave Luz the note, right?" Ed pointed at it to clarify his thought process.

"What? No. It's worse than that. Kind of. I'm the Grom Queen."

Ed and Em's blood ran cold at that statement. They hadn't even thought about the possibility that one of them could be selected for the Grom royalty. 

"That's.... bad." Emira said, feeling like words had failed her a bit.

"It would be Luz, wouldn't it?" Edric asked, referring to the form Grom would take if Amity did indeed fight it.

"You can't ever know for sure until it actually happens, but I think so. I've been so worried and so afraid of hurting our friendship over this. I haven't even been able to get any decent sleep. There's almost no way it won't be her. And everyone in school will be watching. Like you guys said, once the fight with Grom starts, no one will pay attention to anything else." Just being around her siblings seems to have calmed Amity down quite a bit, but she was still clearly horrified.

"We're gonna go talk to Bump." Emira stood up and tried to pull Amity and Edric up with her. "The rules are that if someone else is willing to take your place, then they can. One of us could take your place."

Amity suddenly lit up. "That's true. It's completely within the rules. It could work!"

======

"It won't work." Principal Bump said flatly to the Twins. They had parted ways with Amity who headed towards the auditorium where Grom would be fought to wait to find out what Bump said.

"But the rules say-" Emira started before Bump silenced her with a spell.

"I'm truly touched that you finally care about the rules, but this is beyond my ability to influence. Truth be told, you two were my first choice for Grom Royalty. You're as skilled at your track as any professor and you're quite used to drawing attention. Either one of you would be a perfect candidate. However, your parents have pulled strings with the Coven and you two are disallowed from Grom Royalty status. I don't know what form they think Grom would take for you two, but they insisted it would be scandalous to the Blight name. Amity, as the top student of the entire Abomination Track, was the next best choice. Your concern for Amity is touching, but Grom must be dealt with by a capable student. And I'm hard pressed to think of someone more capable than Amity Blight." The principal got up and paced about the room as he spoke. It seemed that this subject filled him with enough nervous energy to require it.

"Do it anyway." Edric looked more stern than Bump had ever seen him as he stood up from his seat. "We'll deal with the fallout from the Coven. Everyone knows we're trouble. Just say we tricked you somehow."

Bump massaged his temples. Or maybe it was the temples of the small demon attached to his head. With another spell circle Edric was silenced too.

"You're aware of the multi-track students, correct?"

The twins nodded.

"I think its wonderful to have something as special as multi-track students here at the school and I hope that we can expand to allow for more in the future. In fact, I'm working on a proposal to endorse the teaching of multiple tracks more widely. I'd like to see it standardized in a few years if possible. The reason I bring all of this up is that until I am able to proceed with that push, the existence of the multi-track students is to be kept under wraps. They could be barred from ever joining a Coven or even sent to the Conformitorium. It is my job to protect these students. So, no, I will not be doing anything to risk drawing the ire of the Coven at this time. Unless someone who hasn't been barred from the position of Grom Royalty consents to take her place, Amity will remain as Grom Queen. Is that understood?"

The Principal returned to his desk as he spoke and made sure to maintain eye contact with the Twins. His gaze on them now was more serious than they'd realized. Still silenced, they simply nodded somberly. He spun another circle in the air and released the silence spell.

Defeated, the Twins are excused from his office. On their way out, they nearly topple over Amity. She looked up at them with a nervous smile.

"How did it go?"

"No good. Parents are one step ahead. We're not allowed to take your place because they don't want their dirty laundry aired." Ed put his hand on Amity's shoulder and felt his heart sink when he saw how upset the news made her.

"We'll have to find someone who isn't banned from the position and is also willing to take your place." Emira immediately started scouring the hallway, looking to see what students were around. Maybe they could threaten someone into agreeing.

The door to Bump's office opened, with the man himself stepping out and looking at the trio.

"Normally, I wouldn't do something like this, but I'm not heartless. I fully understand the burden that's been placed on you. All three of you may be dismissed from classes. Since the event is tomorrow night, please take the rest of today and as much of tomorrow as you can to prepare." With his piece said, the tired old witch proceeded to walk away before some other staff member grabbed his hand and dragged him along towards the auditorium.

As the siblings headed out of the school's front doors, they were rapidly tossing names back and forth. Anyone they could think of that might fit the bill. Amity herself was silent the whole time before finally speaking.

"I want you to know that I really, really appreciate it. I just need to be alone for a bit. I'm going for a walk. I'll meet you back at home." Amity hurried away from them, which Emira was really getting sick of her doing.

They let her go and immediately set out to Blight Manor to help cover for her. They met with their parents in their study. It was where the Blight Parents spent most of their time at home. 

"Mother, I wanted to inform you that Amity was selected as this year's Grom Queen." Emira tried to mock her Mother's own business tone as she spoke. It kind of creeped Edric out hearing her talk like that, not that he'd ever admit it.

"Yes, I've been made aware already." She didn't bother too look up from whatever she was working on. "Where is she? She should know better than to galavant around at a time like this."

"She went to speak with Lillith about last second preparations before Grom tomorrow night." It had been the lie they'd agreed on as they walked home. Seemed plausible enough.

"What wonderful foresight." If she was pleased, their Mother didn't change her tone to match. "You are dismissed."

Edric turned to leave as ordered, but Emira did not. As soon as he noticed, he turned back around to stay by her side.

"We tried to take her place." she said dropping her fake voice and speaking normally, clearly angry. She couldn't stop herself from glaring at her parents.

Odalia Blight finally looked up from her work and met Emira's glare with one of her own. "Don't scowl like that, you'll wrinkle in your old age. Now, you'll be doing no such thing."

"No, they wouldn't let us." Edric chimed in. He was considerably more nervous than Emira at least visually, but he stood by her.

That comment seemed to please her. 

"You're so worried about something staining the perfect family name that you don't even care about Amity. Do you even know how scared she is?" Emira knew she was crossing a line, but she was tired of this game. 

"Amity is a real Blight. She has nothing to fear." Their Mother spoke with an unwavering confidence. This was something she was certain of.

Emira clenched her jaw so hard she was afraid she'd chip a tooth. She took another step towards her Mother, trying to glare a hole through her.

"What if its you? What if she gets up there and everyone sees your face? Everyone would know what kind of person you really are. All because you-"

"Emira Blight!" Their Father bellowed, finally getting up from his own work. He seemed to close the gap between himself and Emira in a mere instant.

Their Father, Alador, rarely even spoke, choosing to let his wife handle the speaking. And he'd certainly never raised his voice like this before. Emira felt her anger fizzle into fear.

"That is quite enough! Whatever form Grometheus takes is none of your concern and you will not speak with your Mother that way!" He continued his shouting, one hand pointing a finger at Emira accusingly and the other tightly balled into a fist.

Every pointed word caused Emira to step back and he kept pace, stepping forward each time she retreated.

At least until Edric forced himself between them, giving Emira the ability to distance herself some more. He met his Father's glare with one of his own. "I'm not going to let you hurt her."

Alador Blight flinched at Edric's words. "You think I would..." he let himself trail off, unable to finish the sentence.

"I do." Edric's nerves would catch up with him later, but for now he stood firm, not moving an inch.

And just like that, their Father's demeanor changed. He forced himself to return to the nearly emotionless face he always wore. He took a step back from Edric.

"Let us end this here. I doubt any amount of bickering will sway minds here. Return to your rooms. Your separate rooms." He quickly drew a circle in the air and door behind the Twins flew open, their cue to leave.

The Twins were all too eager to leave, but before they could exit their Mother saw fit to throw one last barb.

"Do not think its escaped us how much time you've been spending with Amity lately. If I find out that you two have..... influenced her at all then I won't hesitate to send you both to the Conformitorium. Now, go get your rest. You've got a big night at Grom tomorrow."

The door to the study slammed shut behind them. As instructed, they each went to their own room instead of holing up in Emira's as usual.

Emira sat on the edge of the bed in silence for a long while. Too exhausted to fume and too wired to sleep. All she could hear was her Father bellowing her name over and over again in her head.

Emira Blight. Emira Blight. Emira Blight.

Was that name going to follow her forever? Even when they leave this house behind, she'd still just be one of the Blight Twins. As long as she had green hair and gold eyes, she'd probably always be branded a Blight.

She spent the last of her energy to let out a frustrated groan and flopped over onto the bed. Her scroll suddenly went off and she looked to see who would be bothering her right now. It was Edric. He almost always came to speak in person instead of messaging, so she'd nearly forgotten that his picture was of his face pressed against glass so it would look like he was trapped in the scroll.

"How are you holding up, Ed?"

"Bad, but I'll make it through." he sounded like he was choking back tears, which made Emira almost glad she couldn't see him, because that would make her start too.

"Sorry for not warning you that I might start something. I just couldn't stay quiet anymore. Not with how they treat Amity."

"It's alright. You're the one in the right. I shouldn't have been so willing to slip past them. I can't talk about how I'll help protect Amity and then duck my head every time they look my way."

"Hey, don't you dare beat yourself up about this. They have given you good reason to be afraid of them. Besides, that just makes it all the more heroic that you came to my rescue."

That got Ed to chuckle at least a little.

"Don't sweat it. We'll always have each other."

"Yeah. We'll always have each other."

Normally that was such a comforting thought, but tonight it felt hollow. She would never even dream of abandoning Ed, but would that mean that she'd always be half of a duo? How many people out there only knew her as "One of the Blight Twins"? Were Ed and Amity the only ones who really knew her as Emira?

"You still there, Em?" Edric's voice suddenly cut through her thoughts and she briefly felt ashamed.

"Yeah, sorry. Just spaced out for a second."

"Me too, honestly. Ugh, I think I might actually head to bed."

Emira heard a quiet, careful knock on her door. It had to be Amity. Just in case, she hid her scroll as she used magic to open the door a bit from her bed.

Amity wasted no time coming inside and closing the door behind her. "Not used to seeing just one of you in here." She seemed to be in a much better mood, but that particular word choice ate at Emira a bit.

"Is that Mittens I hear?" Ed's voice perked up from the scroll's hiding place.

Emira pulled the scroll out and set it to speaker mode, so everyone could hear clearly.

"Why are you calling Ed instead of just letting him in here?" Amity had a feeling she might know the answer to that question, but still had to ask.

"We're in a little bit of hot water, but don't worry about it. How did your walk go? Because you look much cheerier." Emira smirked and tried to play things off cool. She really did not want to talk to Amity about all of this. They hadn't mentioned the Fast Track plan earlier and now she definitely didn't want to mention the Conformitorium.

"Aw, I wanna see cheery Mittens!" Ed pouted on the other end of the scroll.

"Well, I do have some good news. I got someone to take my place! I don't have to fight Grom! That's the good news." Amity looked relieved beyond words and Emira's face quickly matched.

"Wow, that was a productive walk." Ed laughed a little, which made Emira happy to hear.

"So what's the bad news?" Emira didn't want to bring the mood down, but she knew there had to be some catch to this.

"The bad news is that the person taking my place is Luz." Amity's entire face dropped when she spoke. Aw, she was worried about Luz.

"That somehow doesn't feel like a coincedence." Emira spent a moment trying to figure out what the odds of this happening actually were. 

"What if she gets hurt fighting Grom?" Amity grabbed Emira's shoulder and shook her a bit. "What if Grom turns into some big monster and cuts her arm off?"

"Then we just put it back on." Edric spoke in a very "I-shouldn't-have-to-explain-this" sort of way.

"I don't think humans can just put their arms back on. I'll have to ask her." Amity looked like she was trying to think about it. Had she ever seen Luz's arm come off? No, she was pretty sure not.

"Either way, I think Luz will be fine. She fought the Slitherbeast and a Greater Basilisk. She'll probably be fine against Grom." Emira was having trouble thinking of anything more dangerous that Grom could turn into. 

"And she's survived living with the Owl Lady. Luz is tough." Ed sounded so confident in her. 

"Well, just to be sure we're going to help her. First thing in the morning we're going to talk to Bump about the replacement. Then we're going straight back to the Owl Shack to help her realize what she's up against. You two are the best Illusionists in the school, so there's nothing she's afraid of that you can't conjure. After that we should have plenty of time to get ready for Grom."

Their darling Mittens seemed to have mapped out their whole day tomorrow.

"We got excused from classes tomorrow and you want us to wake up early?" Emira whined as pathetically as she could. She wasn't joking as much as she'd like.

"Actually, we're going to wake up very early. We'll need to talk to Bump before school even opens." Amity got up and started to move towards the door.

"Ugh, can I trade in my familial bond for a couple extra hours of sleep?" Emira sulked in her bed, already knowing her siblings would find some stupid way to wake her up.

"Nope. Now, goodnight Em. Goodnight, Ed." She smirked as she opened the door to leave for her own bedroom.

"Wait!" Edric called out, startling both of the sisters. "All this crazy stuff is always happening to her. Do you guys ever feel like Luz is the main character of a story we only see parts of?"

"Eh, I'd watch it." Emira said before hanging up on Edric. "Goodnight Mittens."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops that was a long one! The next chapter is a short one again so balance will be achieved.


	6. Pre-Grom Show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some preparations before the big night!

Edric and Amity spent some time that morning debating the best way to wake Emira. Amity was a big fan of just throwing an Abomination on her, but Ed argued that she'd spend too long in the shower trying to wash Abomination goo off of herself.

Ed wanted for Amity to order the Abomination to flip the entire bed, trapping Emira underneath it, but Amity made the good point that she'd just go back to sleep down there.

While they debated the best plan of attack, her alarm demon began screeching and Emira got herself up. "Is there any particular reason you're both in my room?"

Edric simply stared at Emira and drew a circle in the air. Above her head a single snowball appeared and plopped down directly on top of her.

"I've been saving that one since we went to The Knee." Edric explained as Amity giggled. With her hair a mess and a snowball smushed onto her head and a grumpy grimace on her face, Emira was a sight.

Emira took a deep breath and spoke calmly. "I'm going to go shower. If either of you are still here when I get back, well you just better not be."

As Emira disappeared to go shower, Edric and Amity hurried over to Ed's room instead. 

Compared to his sister's room, it was messy and unorganized. Notes from school were scattered all over the room, simply left wherever he had finished needing them. On his desk, across from his bed, Amity found a tube of lipstick and some eyeliner and a few other things. 

"Taking lessons from Em?" she said as she held up the lipstick for him to see.

"Whoops, not supposed to leave that out." Edric snatched it away from Amity and quickly put all of the makeup supplies into one of the desks drawers.

Underneath some of the now displaced papers on his desk, there was a yearbook. The yearbook sorted the students by track and since this one was made much earlier in the year, some of the information was out of date.

For example, it was turned to the page of the Detention Track showing the less than enthusiastic faces of the three students who were now the school's notorious Dual Track Students.

The one in the middle, Jerbo according to the yearbook, was circled with question marks surrounding it. Also on the desk were some papers about the Detention Track, its foundation and its history. These papers also had parts highlighted and underlined. It looked almost like Edric was taking notes or something. Bizarre to think about Ed taking notes on anything.

"You know, if you have an interest in the Detention Track, I'm sure Bump would love to put you in there." she teased as Ed was still trying to cram things into the bottom drawer. Apparently he'd found other things that needed to be hidden in there while she was distracted.

"Oh, that. Yeah I was just curious about some stuff." He stood up and reached to grab the yearbook and cram it into the drawer too, but Amity yanked it away first.

"Curious about some stuff?" She turned the page around to push the highlighted picture in Ed's face. "Tell me all about Mr. Stuff here."

Amity had been expecting to see his face flush red, like Emira's had before, but he just looked... sad?

"It's not like that. I just want to know who he is. I'd never even heard of him until he became Dual Track. How could I just.... not notice someone like that?" He looked serious. Serious was not an expression Amity was used to seeing on Ed.

"You say 'It's not like that' then go on to sound all wistful and longing." She was eager to be the one teasing Ed for a change.

"Speaking of wistful and longing. Are you going to talk to Luz after Grom?" Ed smirked and leaned forward as he spoke.

"You're deflecting." she snapped.

"And you're deflecting my deflection." Edric said this nonsense sentence with the confidence of someone who knew exactly what he was talking about.

Amity wanted to encourage Ed to just go talk to this guy, but she couldn't. She knew she was in no position to lecture him. With a deep sigh she finally spoke up. "I only promise to try."

"That's all I could ask. Now, we need to rush Em out of the shower because we're already behind schedule. Any ideas?" Edric's face had regained its normal glow in the face of his favorite pastime: being a nuisance.

"Can you use Illusion Magic to make the water cold from out here?" Amity grinned and almost bounced with excitement at the prospect. She'd really gotten a lot better at this troublemaker thing.

"Let's find out." Edric made the spell circle with a little extra flourish. They waited in silence for a moment, neither one even letting out a breath. Just as they were ready to call it a failure, they heard Emira scream from in the bathroom. They heard the sound of her jumping out of the shower and then a thud as she slipped and fell.

Emira got dressed enough to stick her head out of the bathroom door and glare at her siblings who were lost in uproarious laughter. She'd get them back for this, especially Ed. This was definitely his idea.

=======

Emira was tired and grumpy the whole walk to the school. They only had a few hours to get everything that their darling Mittens had assigned them done. Despite Emira dragging her feet, they still managed to arrive at the front gate of Hexside in time to see Principal Bump fumbling with a large ring of keys, trying to recall which one opened the gate.

Amity quickly called out to him and set about informing him of the change in Grom Queen. 

Emira was already bored with listening to the conversation again and instead stared at the ring of keys, trying to memorize at least a couple of them. If she could make illusory copies of Bump's keys then there was no telling what she and Ed could get up to.

At first Bump was opposed to the idea of letting a human fight Grom, but it didn't take long to remind him of Luz's exploits, particularly the handling of Basilisk recently. He stopped to think about it for a moment, before agreeing.

"Luz the Human has proven herself quite capable in the short time she's been here. Capable of performing under pressure, capable of wielding magic in creative and powerful ways and, I cannot stress this enough, capable of property damage. I'll allow the transfer of Grom Royalty status, but please try to keep her from breaking down any more walls. We have doors for a reason. Now, go make sure she knows what to do." The old witch proceeded to shoo them away, trying to remember which key he'd left off on. Nope, gonna have to start over.

Edric and Amity tried to contain excited squeals. There had always been that small chance that Bump would say no because Luz was human and they would have had to figure something else out, but they were past that hurdle now. Only thing left to do was head to the Owl House and help Luz prepare.

The walk through the woods to get there was kind of nice. Ed looked around in awe of all the little critters scurrying around. Honestly he'd always been fascinated by nature and animals, but he had a truth he had to face. He was far too beautiful and delicate to do anything resembling roughing it. Even the tent they took to The Knee had been quite comfortable compared to what normal people would bring out there.

Emira, on the other hand, hated the walk through the woods. Her leg was still sore from falling over in the shower and trying to walk through the woods in heels was not helping at all. She was also relatively certain that was her third bug bite in five minutes. Why does there have to be so much nature out in the woods?

However they eventually arrived at the infamous Owl House.

"I've been here once before. There was an incident with Willow that I might have forgotten to mention to you guys." Amity lead the charge, approaching the door with confidence.

At least until the door started talking to her. She'd forgotten about that.... thing.

"Oh boy! Visitors!" What the Twins had previously assumed to be an owl-shaped door knocker began to slither out of its socket, lurching towards them as it screeched. No, Emira didn't like this. She didn't like this at all.

"I can't wait to tell you all of my stories! Why just yesterday I was minding my own business when I saw something in the woods and-" It seemed to only speak at maximum volume and it was starting to give Amity a headache. Was this the Owl Lady's home defense system?

"Owl Thing! We don't have time for this. Just let us inside. Luz will vouch for us." Amity hoped raising her voice would silence it. Anything to silence it.

It let out an excited gasp and then somehow got even louder. "Friends of Luz? Well then that makes us friends too! I love having friends! Time for a Friend Hug!"

Without any further ado, it wrapped itself around Amity who cried out as she was swept off her feet by this horrible tube. She was ready to summon an Abomination to deal with it, when Edric moved towards them.

"Hey, uh, do you think you could go tell Luz that we're here?" He seemed nervous near the owl thing but something had to be done.

"Oh yeah! She can join us too!" It dropped Amity on the ground and curled itself up to the top floor and in through a window.

As soon as it dropped Amity, Edric helped her up while Emira sprinted over to the door. She pulled it open and motioned for Amity to go inside.

"Go! Go! I don't know if we can get past it again!" She tried to keep her voice down, afraid the tube would hear and return before Amity could get inside.

Wasting no time, Amity ran in as fast as she could, still partly covered in brown feathers. Mere moments after she disappeared inside the building, the owl tube returned to the Twins.

"Where did my new friend go? Hmmm... I don't think I ate her. I only eat bugs. And books. And that weird thing I found out in the woods. It was probably a rock, but there's no way to tell now. Oh wait yes there is!" It proceeded to start trying to cough something up, which neither Edric nor Emira wanted to see.

"Amity went to talk to Luz. Do you not know what's going on today?" Em tried to see if it could be reasoned with. They really didn't need to be fighting against this thing the whole time they were trying to prepare Luz.

"Nobody ever tells me anything! I have to put together my own context clues. I think she's afraid to turn into a giant monster and the only cure is to feed Hooty lots of bugs. Sometimes I miss some important details." It screeched with a bizarre confidence.

"Not quite. Okay, Luz is going to be the Grom Queen tonight. Meaning she'll fight Grom." she explained, hoping that would clarify the importance of what they were doing here today.  
It stared at her with a blank expression that indicated it hadn't understood any of what she said.

"Grometheus the Fear Bringer? The monster that lives under the school? It can turn into your worst nightmare?" Now she was just basically pleading with it to understand any of what she was saying. However at the last part, it perked up a bit.

"I better go tell Luz what my worst nightmare is!" It screeched and hurried back up to the window it had visited earlier. After a brief moment suddenly there was the sounds of Luz and Amity shouting as the whole tube shook violently.

"Amity! Stop! Don't hurt him! Amity, wait!" was all they were able to hear out of the commotion.

Once the fighting stopped, the tube retreated back into the door, clearly defeated. Mittens had roughed the poor thing up pretty good. A few moments later and Luz and Amity exited the front door to join the Twins. Luz apologized to the Owl Thing, apparently named Hooty, and proceeded to bandage it up and even put an eye patch on it. They largely suspected she had no idea what she was actually doing.

Once that matter was taken care of, Luz went to stand with the Twins while Amity paced back and forth in front of them.

"Grom will transform into your darkest fears. What are you afraid of Luz?" she pointed at Luz for dramatic effect. The human seemed to stop and think on it.

Edric quickly came to the conclusion that she wasn't comfortable talking about her deepest fears around them. And he came up with a plan to help her feel more comfortable. He leaned his head slightly towards Emira.

"Want to say our greatest fears? On three. One. Two. Three." 

Emira tried not to let it show how it caught her off-guard. The whole morning had put her in a bad mood and now Ed wanted her to just blurt out her greatest fear in front of everybody? Fortunately she was quick on her feet. She thought of the perfect way to get back at Ed for this morning.

"Being alone forever!" Ed said a little too upbeat.

"Being stuck with you forever." Emira looked away as she spoke. Whoa, that came out much harsher than she meant it. She heard Edric let out a sad little groan.

Luz announced that she'd made a list of her worst fears, which was quickly shown to the Twins. 

The laughed at the contents of the list and put whatever had just happened between them aside for Luz. They conjured her bizarre list of fears into reality for Luz to confront.

As Luz panicked at the things surrounding her, Amity stepped forward and spoke harshly.

"Not enough. The reason I can't face Grom, it goes deeper than things that just gross me out. What's your real fear, Luz?" Amity was getting in Luz's face and even prodding at her. 

Emira smirked at seeing Amity getting so aggressive with Luz and glanced over expecting to see Ed with the same smirk. However when she glanced at him, she saw him look away from her. Had that dumb comment really upset him? She'd have to do damage control later, but for right now she was focused on helping Amity to help Luz.

The Twins were snapped back to the task at hand when Luz spoke up after a long pause.

"My real fear is that Eda thinks I'm too fragile to do this. And if she's right, I'll never be a real witch." Luz went through a number of emotions during this one sentence. Fear, determination and uncertainty.

Which just made both of the twins grin with an almost sadistic delight. There it was. The real deal.

Wasting no time they glanced at each other and then each cast half of a gigantic spell circle. Emira silently let out a breath of relief. Two witches can only combine spell circles if they are totally in sync. It's not something that you could do with just anyone. She was afraid that her dumb comment had broken their sync.

From the ground in front of Luz erupted a giant form of the Owl Lady herself. "You're inadequate!" she bellowed before casting her own spell circle, which put Luz in a bib and baby's high chair.

Luz instantly began to groan out loudly, which drew the actual Owl Lady outside to join them.

Upon seeing the massive illusion of herself, she made some comment under breath that neither of the twins could actually hear. Then she realized what this was all about. Once she realized that they were training to fight Grom, she marched over to scold Luz.

The Twins decided to stay a ways back. They hadn't had the best experiences with parental scolding. They sat back and watched. They couldn't make out what was being specifically said, but it was interesting to see how a parent was supposed to argue with their children. The Owl Lady was clearly frustrated, but she wasn't yelling at or insulting Luz. It just seemed more like they were having a discussion.

Once it seemed to be over, they moved closer again so they could hear what Amity was saying as she put her arm on Luz. "Luz, I don't think you're ready, but we are literally out of time."

"I'll take it!" Luz declared triumphantly.

"Okay, we have to head back home and get ready before it starts. I want to say thank you again, Luz. And I hope you know that I'll be there if you need me." Amity finally, begrudgingly, took her hand off of Luz's shoulder.

"Of course!" Luz said with a smile that positively beamed. And then as though she couldn't stay in one place for too long she bolted off towards the Owl House. "I'll see you guys there!"

After Luz left, the trio was stuck outside with just the Owl Lady, all dressed up presumably for Grom. They were about to start leaving when she spoke up.

"Hold up a second. You know, you were over here before, but I didn't make the connection until now. You're Blights, aren't you?" She crossed her arms and seemed to tower over the three of them.

"Yes we are. Is that a problem?" Claiming ownership of the Blight name was still rubbing Emira the wrong way, but she wasn't going to run against the Owl Lady.

"That explains a thing or two." She sounded exasperated. 

"Listen, back when I went to Hexside I was in the same class as your parents. They were....." she struggled to find a polite word, "characters. We never really got along. Anyways, the point is, I'm not going to claim to know what kind of people they grew up into. But if they're anything like they used to be. Well, honestly I kind of worry. Luz likes you guys. I have to hear about Amity this and Amity that all the time." She punctuated the last comment with a snort, and as always she moved around and spoke with her whole body. 

Amity tried to hide how red her face had gotten, likely to no avail.

"What I'm trying to say is, ugh" She pinched the bridge of her nose trying to pretend like someone was forcing her to speak. "If you ever need a place to get away from it all, the Owl House will be open to you. Since apparently I take in freeloaders these days. Just pretend like Hooty isn't there. It's how I get by."

From inside the house itself they heard Luz cry out "Edaaaaa!"

"Well, that's my cue. Oh yeah, if you didn't know I'll be chaperoning tonight, so I'll see you there." she started to head back into the Owl House. "Oh and if no one else spikes the punch, I will! Don't tell Bump!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if you were expecting Grom this chapter. But I can promise the next one is the big event! I'll actually probably post it really soon because if I'm being honest Chapter 7 is probably the proudest I've been of any chapter so far!


	7. Agromplices in Crime, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally Grom night!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of notes at the end. Other than that, please enjoy! Oh yeah please don't ever ask me to describe clothes ever again.

Grom was hustling and bustling as always. Everyone was dressed in their best and many people were already out on the dance floor. The twins were hanging out with each other up in the bleachers. They were wearing their handpicked grom outfits.

Emira wore a beautiful gold colored sleeveless dress with a cute little bow on the front. On anyone else it might have looked like a little much, but with her dark green hair and naturally golden eyes, it looked like she belonged in it.

Edric wore a grey suit with a similarly gold colored undershirt. He even had an Illusion Track pin on his lapel. His look was more subdued than his sister's, but if you were to ask him he'd inform you that going for a little more color variety would help the colors really pop.

Whatever anxious energy had existed between the two earlier had all but vanished. They made fun of nearly everyone's outfits in their little private section of the bleachers. "Overdressed. Underdressed. Honey, that is not your color."

Eventually Amity came to speak with them. The poor thing was clearly nervous. A certain purple note was clutched in her hand. Amity's dress was more in line with the colors of the Abomination Track. Dark purples and pinks looked good on little Mittens.

"I wanted to talk to you two about your plans for tonight. I'll just take a moment." She didn't even bother to sit down, making it clear she didn't plan to hang around long.

"What's on your mind, Mittens?" Edric nearly fell over trying to turn around to face her, but played it off smooth. Or at least he thought so.

"I should have said something like this sooner, but here goes. I think it's a terrible plan with a million different things that can go wrong. What if you go to switch partners and they say something hurtful? What if they go tell their parents? What if-" Amity's voice was getting louder and louder. She couldn't help it with the nervous energy she felt on all sides.

"We know. We know its a bad plan that could easily blow up in our faces. We can't spend this Grom alone. We have to at least try." Emira leaned back and tried to avoid eye contact as she explained. Or rather didn't explain. As long as there was a chance that at least one of the three could have a good time here, they didn't dare spill the secret that would ruin the mood.

"I just don't get it. Grom has never been this important to you two. The last few times you've just showed up for the fight and then left. What's different this year?" Amity was struggling to understand why they were putting themselves in the line of fire like this. 

"Tell you what. If you ask you know who out then we'll tell you after this is all over." Ed gave an apologetic smile to Amity. He knew this didn't make any sense. They all knew it. 

"I said I'd try. And I- hang on." Over in the corner she spied Eda hanging around the punch bowl for a suspiciously long time. She turned around on her heels and hurried down the bleachers calling out for Principal Bump. 

They watched from up above as the Principal deflated and marched over with Amity to the punch bowl. They couldn't hear the words, but he pointed a finger accusingly at the Owl Lady, who tried to look innocent. Her body language then shifted to indignant and then finally to guilty. 

Bump cast a spell and a bag appeared in his hands which he shook at the Owl Lady. After a moment she reached into her pocket and put an unmarked container into the bag. Bump shook the bag again and she reached into her other pocket and pulled another one out which went into the bag. This process was repeated three more times with three more pockets and three more containers.

Once Bump's back was turned she reached into her hair and pulled another one out and opened it, grinning to herself. The container was levitated out of her hand and into the bag as Bump didn't even bother to look back. He already knew her tricks.

Amity was then accosted by some of her other friends who had finally spotted her. That meant that the twins were on their own until their dates arrived.

"They're running a bit late, huh?" Edric knew that realistically Grom had only just started and there was still plenty of time for people to arrive, but he couldn't help but worry.

"Come on Ed, don't you know anything about being fashionably late?" Emira shared his concern, but she couldn't let them both start worrying.

Fifteen minutes late quickly became thirty. Thirty minutes late quickly became an hour. Which quickly became two. It was only a few minutes left until the fight would begin and the Twins still hadn't seen their dates at all.

"I guess we should've seen this coming." Emira sulked in their little corner. "Amity is probably right. This is the best thing that could have happened."

Speaking of which, Ed realized he'd lost sight of Amity. He scanned around for her and caught a glimpse of her out in the hallway talking with Luz. He couldn't help but smile. At least one of them could walk out of this happy.

"Check out Mittens the smooth operator down there." He gleefully pointed her out to Emira who also stopped sulking long enough to crack a grin.

"If she gets a kiss before either of us then I'm just going to move out into the woods and go completely feral." Emira couldn't hide a genuine smile even as she spoke.

"Well go ahead and practice your howling, because she's got a headstart. And we've got.... nothing." He slumped back, trying to look like it didn't bother him. It bothered him. It bothered him a lot.

Before the Twins could return to full sulk mode the announcer suddenly started introducing the Grom Queen. Most people present probably hadn't heard about the change of Grom Queen yet, so when it was announced to be Luz the Human there were some confused looks among the crowd.

Triumphantly Luz strolled out of the hallway and got ready to begin combat. A mere matter of moments after she stepped into the arena Grom revealed itself. It quickly took the form of one of Luz's more absurd fears.

Up on the announcer's stage the little demon fella that Luz was with all the time had been given the mic. Ed was pretty sure his name was King. And it was hard to watch. The poor little guy seemed to get stage fright something awful. And once the crowd started to boo him, he ran off the stage.

It was pretty impressive for something to pull people's attention away from the fight. Luz seemed to be doing an incredibly good job of dealing with whatever form Grom threw at her until it suddenly changed again.

This new form was sloppy and more reminiscent of Grom's true gooey form, but it was unmistakable. It was clearly the Owl Lady. This was it. Luz's real fear. And she hesitated. And once she hesitated Grom lashed out a tendril and finally, truly read Luz's mind.

With a flash of light Grom turned into.... a door? Was Luz afraid of this door?

All was made clear when a woman stepped through the door. A human woman. She looked just like an older Luz only if Luz was tired all the time instead of energetic. Whatever Grom's new form was saying, it caused Luz to throw her weapon down. Then Grom dramatically transformed into a more proper demon form, only with this human stuck on top of it.

To everyone's surprise Luz did something they'd never seen her do. She ran. She didn't hesitate or slow down as she ran straight out of the auditorium with Grom chasing behind shortly after. 

The Twins just stared down mouth agape as they watched Grom leave the auditorium, which they'd never seen happen before.

Amity and the Owl Lady didn't hesitate to chase after her as Bump made the announcement that Grom had escaped. After some strange, but encouraging words from their fuzzy little announcer the auditorium cleared out as everyone chased after Luz and Grom.

Edric started to get up and go with them when he noticed that Emira wasn't.

"Em, we gotta go and-"

"Why? She's got Amity and the Owl Lady and even the whole rest of the school coming to help her. Luz will be fine. Even if we went it wouldn't make a difference. We shouldn't even have come. Look at us. Just the Blight Twins all alone together. Like always." Emira nearly had tears in her eyes, which Edric hadn't expected to see.

"Is it really that bad for it to be just us?" Ed was still bothered by Emira's words earlier and he couldn't help but feel like it was the heart of the matter here.

"It's not that, Ed. It's just- I don't know. I don't know how to put it into words. I-"

Their moment was broken up by something they hadn't expected. Someone else's voice. They'd honestly thought everyone had left.

"Hey! Do you two want some punch? I can bring it up there!"

They looked at the source of the voice which was, all the way across the auditorium, the Dual Track girl, Viney. Beside her stood Jerbo who she was nearly always seen with. She was waving up at them while the guy beside her looked like he was trying very hard to not be seen.

Emira's face lit up red. Of all people, why was she still here?

Edric stood up and offered a hand to help Em get up.

"I think we could both use some company right now. Let's go be sociable."

And so the duo descended, silently making their way towards the only other people in the auditorium. Unless you counted the disco ball. Which no one did.

Emira was trying her best to keep her composure. To play it cool. However as they got closer, she couldn't help but vividly recall humiliating herself in front of this very cute girl not even that long ago.

The two of them were still wearing their school uniforms, which made remembering which tracks they were in very easy. Or at least it would have had the Twins not definitely already committed that information to memory.

"Wow, now I feel really underdressed." Viney joked as the Twins were finally face to face with them.

"It's not like this was worth dressing up for anyways." Ed shrugged. 

Emira was silently trying to construct a sentence. And one that wouldn't be embarrassing. Or make her come across like she'd been bitten by a Brain Addler.

"Why are you still here?" Well that wasn't what she'd meant to say and not the way she'd meant to say it.

"Ouch. We can go if you want." Viney took a long drink of punch, as if debating whether or not to leave.

"Sorry! I didn't mean it like that! I mean like..." she took a deep breath to try to calm herself. "I'm just wondering why you didn't go with everyone else to see the rest of the fight."

"Oh that." Viney looked almost embarrassed. "We just got done with some of our class stuff, so we only just showed up. We didn't realize Luz was the Grom Queen."

Edric chuckled. "You just wanted to see what scares a Blight, huh?"

Viney suddenly looked like she wanted the topic to change very badly. So she gave it her best.

"H-hey! We got this whole place to ourselves! Anyone want to dance?" Her eyes bounced back and forth between the Twins, eventually settling on Emira who looked like she was dumbstruck.

"Yes! Me!" Em said way too loudly. She hadn't meant to answer so loud or so quickly.

The other girl let out a laugh at Em's enthusiasm and then Emira's higher brain functions shut down as Viney grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the dance floor. 

========

Jerbo had managed to spend the whole time so far pretending to be drinking from his cup of punch. It had long since been empty, but none of the others needed to know that. Viney was usually good at keeping the conversation running, but that traitor had just run off to the dance floor and left him all alone over here. With a Blight.

He watched the other guy looking at the girls awkwardly dancing for a moment before turning his golden eyes back this way.

"You the strong, silent type?" He had a pretty smug looking grin on his face.

"H-ha. Mostly just silent." he nervously set his cup down. Jerbo was a pretty nervous person normally, but something about the idea of being this close to one of the notorious Blight Twins had him especially on edge. At least until he laughed at Jerbo's dumb comment.

After a pause Edric was the one to speak up.

"So, you're in Plants and Abominations, right?" 

The Dual Track witch perked up a bit at the mention of his chosen tracks.

"Yeah! I really love both tracks. Your younger sister is in Abominations, right?" Jerbo was struggling to find any common thread with the Blight. But they couldn't possibly have more in common than a couple superficial things.

"Yup. Do you two have any classes together?" Edric had begun to rock back and forth slightly as he leaned against the wall.

"No. Before we were allowed to Dual Track I was in the Plant Track. And they're still figuring out how a Dual Track schedule will work, so we're not in classes with everyone else yet. Bump said he's almost got it figured out, so hopefully we can rejoin general classes in a week or two." 

“Oh, so you’re in like special cram classes until then or something?” Ed smiled and looked like he was trying to figure out how a dual schedule would actually work.

“Yeah. Oh, except for Luz. Bump gave up on trying to make her schedule work, so she just goes to a different class basically every day.” Jerbo was nearly taken aback. He'd never expected that someone like this would be someone he could just... talk to. He let out a nervous laugh.

When he glanced over at Edric, he saw a smile on his face. Jerbo quickly darted his eyes away.

"You know, if I were to tell anyone that I spent Grom hanging out with a Blight, no one would ever believe me." He tried to gauge the other's reaction out of the corner of his eye. He probably shouldn't have said something like that.

"Then how about Edric?" was all the green haired boy said.

"What?"

"If you're so worried about being around a Blight, then don't be. I'm not a Blight for tonight. I'm Edric. My friends call me Ed." He punctuated the last part with a wink and a bow.

Jerbo couldn't help but laugh a little at the theatrics. "Alright then Edric."

"Aw, no Ed?" Edric feigned being hurt, continuing his dramatics.

"We'll see how it goes." Jerbo couldn't believe that his nerves were mostly gone. I mean there was always a background buzz of anxiety, but compared to how he'd expected this encounter to go.... It was nice. He decided to pick the conversation back up.

"So, did your dates run off to watch the fight?"

Edric sighed and slumped against the wall, adjusting his hair a bit. "No. Our dates never showed up."

Suddenly the nerves were back. What a stupid thing to ask. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that! I didn't mean to say something like that!"

Edric chuckled again, seeming to come out of his slump a bit. "It's fine. I think it's for the best anyways. It was just some people our parents wanted us to go with anyways."

"That stinks. I can't even imagine. Well, you don't need them anyways." Jerbo had completely forgotten about the kinds of pressure that they must be under to keep up appearances. Then it hit him. Edric was only hanging out with him because they were all alone. Once people came back, he wouldn't be caught dead with the weird Dual Track kid.

"You know, you still haven't even introduced yourself properly. I don't even know your name." 

Edric seemed to have his energy back and with it his trademark grin.

Jerbo had quickly found that he had trouble staying too upset at that smile. Which was a troubling thought, to say the least. "I'm Jerbo. Nothing dramatic or exciting. Just Jerbo."

Edric laughed. It was a laugh that everyone in the school had heard at least once. Usually as part of the fallout for some prank. But being this close to him, it felt different somehow.

"I'm just teasing. Of course I know you. Everyone knows you guys now. Viney, Jerbo, Barcus and Luz. And I'd say you're plenty exciting." He seemed excited about it, even if Jerbo was nervous about the idea that everyone knows him.

"I don't know where you're getting that idea. I'm not like someone like you or Viney or Luz. I'm just not that adventurous." He reached for the cup he'd set down earlier, intending to pretend to take another drink instead of looking at Edric. However, it was just out of reach. At some point he'd moved closer to Edric and further from the table.

Edric took a deep breath and then let out an exhale. Was he nervous? About what?

"If I'm being honest, when the Dual Track thing started, that was the first time I'd ever heard of you. I wouldn’t even be able to tell you if we've passed in the halls prior to that. And I spent a while kind of kicking myself over it. I just had a hard time believing that I'd just never noticed someone like you. Even if you don't think what you do is anything big, I think you're brave." Edric avoided looking at Jerbo for most of his rant, but glanced over at the end with a smile.

Several different feelings were running through Jerbo's mind and body all at once. Pride, happiness and... relief? Was he relieved that Ed seemed to like him? Not even half an hour ago, he wouldn't have cared what Edric Blight thought of him, but now it filled him with a warm feeling to hear him say something like that.

"W-well don't think I'm gonna start fighting Basilisks once a week or anything. I fully intend to keep my head down and out of Bump's line of sight. So, don't give me too much credit." When he heard Edric's chuckle again, he couldn't stop himself from stealing a glance at that smile.

"I can't make that promise." Edric's smile quickly transformed into that full smug grin.

Conversation died down for a moment. The silence brought with it a buzzing of nerves. He needed to think of something to say quick. His mind quickly flicked through all the things they'd talked about before.

"You mentioned your parents earlier. What kind of people are they?" Surely Ed would be excited to brag about his Blight pedigree.

However, he simply imitated a buzzer going off. "Nope, sorry. You have to be at least a level nine friend to unlock that part of my backstory."

Jerbo couldn't help but chuckle a bit at Ed being silly. "Well then what level am I at right now?"

Ed seemed to really be thinking about it. "Well, this is our first time actually talking, so you should be at around level one. But, you've made a pretty good first impression, so I'd be willing to give you level three. You're lucky because level three comes with all kinds of fun benefits."

Another laugh was coaxed out. He never would've figured that someone like Ed would be this much of a goofball. From a distance their pranks always looked more mean-spirited.  
"So what are my level three benefits?"

"Well, you get full access to Ed's Illusions Hour, which is a full stand up comedy routine starring me, me and another me. Oh and I'll need to get your number, so I can enroll you in the Ed Newsletter, which keeps you up to date on all the exciting Edric news and events." He quickly pulled out his scroll indicating that the last part had been at least partially serious.

Panic suddenly filled Jerbo. He couldn't just give Ed his number. Because then Ed would have his number. And he would have Ed's number. No, that just couldn't happen.

"Ha ha! So what are the level two benefits then?" He had no good explanation for why the idea made him so nervous. Or why he found that words were suddenly getting hard to form.

Ed's face actually flushed red as he put his scroll away. Jerbo felt like this was surely the first time anyone had ever seen an embarrassed Blight. And oh no it was all his fault.

"The big one from level two is that you get a free pass to cut class. That's right the number one illusionist in the whole school can get you out of class once for free. Not even Bump could spot one of my illusions." Ed clearly took great pride in his skills as an illusionist.

"Oh yeah. That's right. You two cut classes all the time. Uh, I'll have to pass on that one. I'm honestly just happy to be attending classes again." He didn't want to seem like he was shutting Ed down twice in a row, but he wouldn't even dream of skipping classes. Maybe the Blights didn't take it so seriously, but after the Detention Track he wouldn't ever take it for granted again.

Edric smacked his own forehead suddenly before speaking up. "Right, the Detention Track. I'm so sorry, I was just messing around."

Okay it was time to do damage control. "It's fine. I mean our time in there wasn't wasted. We still studied. I mean we studied even more back then than we probably do now that we’re only learning two tracks."

"Only two tracks? How many were you guys studying from all the way in the Detention Track?"

Suddenly he felt incredibly self-conscious under Ed's scrutiny. Why? Why did he care what Ed thought?

"Uh, we were learning a little bit of all of them? I'm really only any good at Plants and Abominations though, so I don't know how effective it actually was." 

In an instant Edric was in his face, somehow full of more energy than he'd seen so far.

"Everything? That's so cool! Can you, uh...." he seemed to look around for something before turning back to face Jerbo again far too close for comfort. "Can you do any illusions? I won't judge!"

And now it was time to scream internally. Illusion Magic had been definitely one of his weaker points while they had been studying everything. And now the top of the Illusion Track was asking him to show what he knew?

"Uh, uh, um I mean? I-I wasn't really any good at it. I probably wouldn't be able to make anything worthwhile." As he stuttered and stammered nervously Edric suddenly backed away. There was something about his expression that Jerbo didn't know him well enough to read yet. Something was off.

"It's fine. Sorry for being pushy." Ed's whole body language seemed apologetic somehow. 

But he couldn't shake this feeling. He desperately wanted to impress Ed. He tried to think of what he could make before deciding on the Illusion Track symbol. Even if it wasn't perfect it shouldn't be too hard to make it recognizable. So he silently made a spell circle in the air and a light blue ball of light appeared. Not even close. It was indistinguishable from an off-colored light spell.

Ed simply stared at it and then smiled lightly. "You're trying to pick something too complicated. Just close your eyes and think of something simple. Something you know by heart and could never mistake. It doesn't have to be anything grand." He closed his own eyes as he explained and Jerbo took the chance to try to pay close attention to his face, taking in every detail he could. However, once Ed's eyes opened back up, Jerbo shut his own eyes as tightly as he could.

In the darkness, he tried to follow Ed's instructions. Something small. Something he could never mistake. At first he couldn't get the image of Ed's smile out of his head. Now was not the time to confront whatever *that* meant. So with a little more focus he was able to turn his thoughts to a small plant. It was unmistakable in his mind as the first thing he'd ever grown in the Plant Track.

Without opening his eyes he traced the circle in the air, imagining the plant as clearly as he could. It was just a little bud, so it wasn't anything too big. Once he felt the magic settle he opened his eyes. He hadn't been able to create the whole plant, but there in his hands was the bud that sat at the top of his imagined plant. It was small, but it was almost exactly like he remembered.

Ed leaned close, looking at the bud. It was pink and spotted. His eyes were locked firmly on the illusion that had been made and they seemed to almost sparkle. Jerbo couldn't stop staring at them and the way those gold eyes were lit up and shimmering. Oh no. No, no, no no. He tried to force himself to look away. Look at anything else. But he couldn't. He just couldn’t.

"Amazing. And this is without any formal training?" Ed finally looked up from the illusion in Jerbo's hands and their eyes fully met. Jerbo was sure his face was burning red at this point.

"W-well I did learn from the best." he said with a nervous chuckle.

Edric laughed again. "Well that's true. I guess I'll call that one a freebie. Next time you might not get so lucky."

"Next time?" Jerbo asked hopefully. Hoping this wouldn't be the last time they spoke. Hoping that maybe they could do this again.

"Well, only if you're up to it. You're already pushing two tracks, so unless you're interested I wouldn't try to push a third onto you." Edric was back to his usual smug grin which Jerbo had been told always meant trouble. But maybe he could use a little more trouble in his life.

"I'd love to. That is, if you have the time, Ed." 

At the sound of Jerbo calling him Ed, his face lit up red again. "O-of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really proud of the way this turned out and I was sick of sitting on it, so here it is! And now I'm nearly out of chapters that have already been written!
> 
> One complaint I've had with Owl House fanworks that I've seen so far is the fact that Edric and Jerbo are kind of treated like leftovers. Like you've got Luz/Amity and Emira/Viney and then oh who's even left? I guess Edric has to be with *someone*.
> 
> So I really wanted to go out of my way to give the two a genuine moment. I sure hope I did alright!
> 
> I also wanted to spend the scene in Jerbo's PoV instead of Edric's because I feel like y'all probably know him well enough by now to know or at least guess what he's thinking. Next chapter is Viney with Emira so don't worry, they aren't left out!


	8. Agromplices in Crime, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emira finally gets her dance at Grom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to drop this chapter sooner, but it went through a ton of rewrites to get something I was happier with.

"H-hey! We got this whole place to ourselves! Anyone want to dance?" Her eyes bounced back and forth between the Twins, eventually settling on Emira who looked like she was dumbstruck.

"Yes! Me!" Em said way too loudly. She hadn't meant to answer so loud or so quickly.

Viney couldn’t help but laugh a bit at the other girl’s enthusiasm. Wasting no further time, she grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the dance floor. 

Once they were out on the floor proper, Viney had to confront a terrible truth. She had no idea how to dance. She'd panicked and brought a Blight out to the dance floor. Time to see if she could salvage this.

"Care to take the lead?" She spoke with a smile and gave Emira's hand a light squeeze.

Emira looked like she was caught in a spotlight for a long breath before she finally let out a quiet "Y-yeah, sure..."

Emira began to shift her position and move her hands into place in a clearly practiced manner. She grabbed onto one of Viney's hands and extended it out along with her own and placed the other around Viney's waist and indicated that she was to do the same and place her arm around Emira's waist.

As they began to move, Viney closely followed Emira's lead, trying desperately not to step on her feet. The movements were so stiff and measured. One-Two-step. One-Two-swing. One-Two-step.

"You're so tense. Just relax. It's just me." It hadn't escaped Viney that Emira's whole body was tensed up and that she was doing everything she could to avoid eye contact.

"S-sorry. So you're, um, Beastkeeping?" Emira's whole face was bright red and as she spoke, she only tensed up even more.

Viney giggled at the stumbled words. "Yes. Me Beastkeeping. And me Healing."

Emira directed her eyes straight at the ground. "S-sorry... But that's really cool though!"

"Listen if this is all about the other day, don't even worry about it. Just relax." She did her best to sound comforting. "Besides, heels and nerves really don't go together."

“I’m fine! I just-” Emira yelled out before cutting herself off. The two of them stopped moving as she was trying to focus herself.

“Need a minute?” Viney smiled and guessed how the sentence would end.

“Just a second.” Emira took a deep breath and seemed like she was trying to calm herself down. This had to be about more than just an awkward conversation a week or so ago.

After a moment, she was visibly more relaxed. Even if she was still a little red.

“Okay. Can I start over? Like, from the start?” The look on Emira’s face was more earnest than Viney had thought her capable of making. 

After a quick laugh, Viney agreed, “Sounds good to me. Name’s Viney. What’s yours?”

Emira couldn’t contain a giggle and began the movement of their dance once more slowly and gingerly. “I didn’t mean that far back, but I could probably use that leeway. I’m Emira. Nice to meet you.”

It seemed like taking a moment to compose herself had done wonders for Emira. Viney could tell she was less tense and even their dance movements had become a little more loose. 

“So, since we’ve never met before, why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself, Emira.” Viney couldn’t help but smile as she teased. Emira had proven awfully fun to tease so far, even if the rumors all said that teasing her would be a death sentence. 

“Oh, you know. I’m just…. Emira. There’s not a lot to know about me. I want to know about you.”

Every moment with Emira seemed to fly in the face of everything she’d heard about her. She’d heard all about how cold and cruel and cunning she could be. But those rumors never mentioned her being so nervous and gentle. They never mentioned a girl who held her dance partner as though they were made of glass.

Suddenly Emira’s face burned red again and she spoke in a hurried panic, “I mean, you don’t have to if you don’t want to!”

It dawned on Viney that she’d just been staring at Emira while lost in her thoughts and that she’d taken far too long to respond. “What do you want to know?”

Emira’s eyes lit up and she excitedly blurted out “Everything. I mean Anything!”

“You’re getting nervous again. Relax. Now, I think the most exciting thing is probably that I’m one of the now infamous Dual Track kids. Healing and Beastkeeping.” She could feel Emira starting to tense up again and tried to calm her. 

“W-why those two?” Every time those gold eyes met Viney’s own she noticed that they would quickly dart away, like she was afraid to let their eyes meet.

“I like helping people. Ever since I was little I always wanted to learn Healing Magic. According to my parents, I begged all the time to be in the Healing Track when I was really young. As for the Beastkeeping part, I’ve always loved animals with all my heart. Growing up in the woods near The Skull will do that to you. Sometimes I think I get along better with animals than people. To try to bring the two together was only natural.”

As she spoke, Viney kept her eyes on Emira. She wanted to get some idea of what was going on in her head. What was she thinking? Her only glimpse into the other girl’s mind was those eyes locked on her as she talked about herself. They shone so brightly she could almost see her reflection in them and for once she didn’t cast them away when their eyes met.

“Aw, that’s so cu- sweet. That’s so sweet.” Emira was lighting up red again.

“What about you? Why Illusions?” Viney found herself fascinated by this version of Emira. This Emira who was so unlike the Emira she’d heard so much about. The Emira that was afraid to use the word ‘cute’ and whose face burned red as she spoke.

“My brother and I are just in Illusions because our parents picked it for us when we were younger. Don’t really know why. But we’re pretty good at it, so I won’t complain.” 

“You’re more than just good at it. You two are the best.” Viney wouldn’t let Emira undersell herself. Plus, it was fun to watch her freak out at a simple compliment.

“I mean- I guess we’re alright! B-but nothing like y-you!”

Viney was going to remind her that heels and nerves don’t mix, but as if on cue, Emira's heels slipped out from under her, causing her to lose her balance. Viney tried to help her stay stable, but when Emira's head collided with her chin, they were both knocked to the floor.

Once she was sure she hadn't chipped a fang, Viney got up and saw Emira still laying on the ground, her leg clearly in pain. "You alright? Sorry, that's a dumb question. Let's get you up."

And Viney very carefully lifted Emira off the floor, trying to keep her leg elevated in case it was actually badly hurt. Huh. The girl was nearly weightless. She also took a quick glance over at Jerbo to see if he would come help, but he seemed completely absorbed in whatever conversation he was having with the other Blight. The traitor.

Emira remained the deepest shade of red that Viney had ever seen, but was otherwise silent as she was carried over to the bleachers. Once she was let down, Viney kept her leg raised up as she began to inspect it.

"Sorry again..." Emira muttered as she continued to avoid eye contact.

"If you apologize again I'm going to consider feeding you to my griffin. Tell me if this hurts." Viney kept her eyes focused on Emira's leg as she spoke. She forced the leg to bend at the knee as she ended her sentence and looked up to see Emira's reaction.

Emira's eyes were locked on her, but she wasn't showing any signs of pain from the leg's movement. "No, that doesn't hurt. Sorr-"

Viney faked anger when she heard Emira start to apologize again.

"I just can't believe I'm embarrassing myself like this. Again." Emira huffed, trying again to look anywhere but at Viney.

"It's Grom night. Part of the point is to embarrass yourself, right?" Viney smirked as she moved onto seeing if Emira's ankle was hurt. "How does this feel?"

No major reaction when the ankle was tested either. "It feels alright. I just want to make a good impression for once. Especially with someone so..." Emira cut herself off. The red in her cheeks hadn't really ever stopped but Viney suspected that it would have flared back up if it could.

"Someone who's such a 'Cutie'?" Viney couldn't help but tease. She hadn't forgotten that. She couldn't forget something like Emira Blight calling her a cutie.

Emira froze up and her eyes locked onto Viney before darting around.

"Y-yeah... you got me." 

Viney had only been teasing but suddenly she was acutely aware of Emira. Suddenly all of the stuttering and stumbling and everything made sense. She’d always noticed those glowing golden eyes and that beautiful emerald hair, but now she was paying more attention than ever before to every feature of Emira’s from the curve of her smile to the melody of her voice.

"Me?!" Viney exclaimed suddenly, her own face turning red at the thought.

Emira giggled slightly, "Yeah, you."

Sure she had just heard Emira say it out loud, but she had to be mistaken. There's no way that the Emira Blight had even a passing interest in her. Emira was beautiful and graceful and smart and talented. Basically the opposite of herself.

"Don't mess with people like that, Emira. Someone might think you're being serious." Viney couldn't make herself believe it. It had to be a prank or a trick. The Blights were known for that kind of thing.

Emira looked almost angry, "I am being serious! Now, can I have my leg back?"

Viney suddenly realized that she'd just been sitting here holding Emira's leg for no reason for a while now, quickly releasing her grip. "Oh, uh, it doesn't seem like its seriously hurt, but you'll probably be sore tomorrow, if not later tonight."

Emira adjusted herself to a normal sitting position. She took a deep breath and didn't exhale for longer than was probably healthy.

Viney’s mind was still racing. Nothing about what she’d just been told made sense to her. Emira could probably be here with anyone she wanted in the whole school. But here she was with her? And Emira thinks she’s cute? No, something has to be wrong.

“Did I…. make things too weird?” Emira finally spoke up, snapping Viney back to reality.

“No!” Viney exclaimed with much more enthusiasm than she’d meant to. “I just… don’t get why it would be me?”

Emira looked almost offended at the remark. “What in the name of the Titan do you mean by that?”

“You’re Emira Blight! You’re one of the smartest students in the whole school! And everyone knows you! And-And you’re so…. Beautiful.” Viney hadn’t realized how hard that last word would be to spit out. And it was finally hitting her that she just said that directly to Emira’s face.

“You think I’m beautiful?” Emira just blurted out suddenly. Her eyes were wide and she seemed stunned. 

Viney just stared at her for a moment. She just assumed Emira would hear praises of her beauty sung everyday. “Of course.” she just said as if it were a matter of fact.

“T-Thank you. I-I think you’re beautiful too. I mean, I think you’re way more than just beautiful but, you know- I mean- You know…” Emira was still stumbling and fumbling over her words, which Viney could no longer view as anything other than the cutest thing in the world.

Of course, she couldn’t help but light up red at hearing Emira call her beautiful. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been called beautiful and it was from someone like her? The two of them sat in silence for a while, both red as could be.

“H-how’s your leg feeling?” Viney finally spoke up, stealing a quick glance at Emira who was apparently in the process of doing the same, given her suddenly jerking her head away.

“It’s fine! I’m all better!” She patted her hands against her leg as if that provided proof in some way.

“Then would you be willing to give dancing another try?” Viney finally stood up and offered her hand to Emira. There was nothing in this world she wanted more than to dance with Emira right now. She wanted to do everything she could to make a lasting memory here.

For the second time tonight Emira was pulled out to the dance floor by Viney.

They began to dance much as they did earlier, only this time the building tension was replaced by something of a spark. Something electric in the air.

“You know, I never would’ve guessed that this is how my night was going to go.” Viney grinned as she moved around with Emira, following her lead. The dancing now was much more energetic than before and much less stiff and scripted.

“Me either. I guess you can’t ever predict these things.” Emira’s nervous smile was replaced with one that was as wide and glowing as Viney had ever seen.

Emira nearly tripped over her heels again, but this time she was able to catch herself, with a little help from Viney.

“You need to be careful in those things. You’re getting dangerous.” Viney couldn’t help but giggle and smile as they quickly returned to their stride.

“Aw, but if I fall again, I know this super cute healer who can save me.” She punctuated her comment with a dip and a wink.

“Don’t make me drop you. And what happened to all that cute stumbling and stuttering? I kinda miss it.” She then tried her best to dip Emira. She was doing everything she could to be as gentle and careful as possible. And yet, she definitely wanted to show off.

“Sh-shut up. I’m trying my best.” Emira’s nervous smile was back in full force. Looks like all Viney had to do was throw the word cute around.

As they came back up from the dip, it finally happened. Viney stepped squarely on Emira’s foot. Emira yelled out in surprise and instinctively tried to pull her foot back, but as always her heels failed to cooperate, knocking her off balance entirely.

Viney was still holding Emira’s hand and tried to pull her up, but only caused her to lurch forward and their heads collided and they were down on the ground again. After a moment of rubbing their heads, Emira began to laugh and a mere moment after Viney couldn’t help but join her.

There they were laying in the middle of the dance floor, both laughing at nothing in particular.

“I am never dancing in heels again.” Emira finally said when her laughter allowed her to speak again.

“It made for an unforgettable dance though.” Viney sat up to face Emira, a smile still on her face. She couldn’t help but feel like she looked a bit dopey just staring at Emira like this, but that smile of hers was art.

“Yeah, this is definitely the best Grom I’ve ever had….” Emira stared at Viney in much the same way until all of a sudden she looked like she realized something terrible.

“Grom!” she suddenly pulled herself to her feet and helped Viney up in a panic. “I totally forgot! I’m sorry to cut this short, but I have to make sure my sister didn’t get eaten by a monster! I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

She wasted no time in hurrying and pulling her brother away from whatever he and Jerbo were doing. The two of them were gone before either of them could say goodbye.

Viney walked over to where Jerbo was standing and joined him for a moment.

“I just had the weirdest night.” They both said in unison.

=======

The Twins hurried through the woods near the school as fast as they could. It was easy to follow Grom’s path of destruction. Eventually they came to the edge of the woods and while they didn’t find Grom or Luz or Amity or anyone for that matter, they did find an enormous tree with beautiful pink leaves.

“Was this always here?” Edric didn’t know the woods as well as he’d like, so maybe this was always here.

“How would I know?” Emira didn’t mean to snap at him but not seeing anyone had her beyond worried.

“It’s new.” Amity was sitting at the base of the tree, just on the other side.

“Amity! I am so, so sorry! Are you alright? Did Grom get beaten? Did you have to reattach Luz’s arm?” Emira bolted down next to her sister. Not going to help had been her idea to begin with. Amity or Luz could’ve gotten seriously hurt all because she was in a bad mood.

Amity chuckled a bit at Emira’s panic. “No, we’re fine. Grom is taken care of and I just had one of the weirdest nights of my life. Can we go home? I’d love to talk about it tomorrow.”

“No problem at all Mittens. We’ll still be here for you tomorrow.” Edric helped Amity up and the three of them began the trip back home.

When they arrived at Blight Manor it was much later than it should have been. Amity was getting ready to hear it from their mother. When they made it inside, there was a note informing the children to meet their parents in the study.

Inside the study they found only their Mother. She had clearly been waiting on them.

“How did it go, Amity? I was informed that someone took your place as Grom Queen at the last moment.” she said as she kept her gaze solely focused on the youngest Blight.

“Yes, mother.” Amity sighed, not really wanting to have this conversation to begin with. “I did not have to fight Grom.”

“Just as well, I suppose. I hope you had a relaxing night off then. Remember that you’ll need to make up the missed day of your studies tomorrow. You are dismissed.” Their Mother circled the trio like a Carcass Bird as she scrutinized Amity.

Amity hated to abandon the Twins first, but she was also eager to leave this encounter behind her. She mouthed a silent apology to them before heading up to her own room.

Once Amity was gone their Mother’s expression shifted to the most sinister grin they’d ever seen. “And you two. How was your night? I’m sure you had a good time with your dates.”

Of course they were responsible for their dates not showing up. Of course it was just another dig at them. Emira was surprised that her blood wasn’t boiling. She was just regular angry. In fact, she even smirked.

“I’m afraid our dates couldn’t make it, but we still happened to have a wonderful night. Thank you for encouraging us to go, Mother.” Emira’s grin was only getting wider and wider as she saw her Mother’s face twist to confusion.

“She’s right. It was an absolutely splendid night. And we wouldn’t have gone if it weren’t for your encouragement. So thank you very much.” Edric had a grin of his own as he locked eyes with his now bewildered Mother. He had to stop himself from laughing a little.

“How wonderful.” She definitely did not sound pleased. “I hope you were able to make some lasting memories at your last Grom.”

“Oh absolutely, Mother.” The twins both spoke and gave a wink at the same time. For anyone else it would have been a practiced gesture, but for them it came naturally.

“Delightful.” She was now doing absolutely nothing to hide her displeasure, her face twisted in a scowl. “You are dismissed.”

The twins kept their grins as they turned and left, their Mother seemingly having nothing left for them. Maybe it was a small thing, but this felt like the first victory against her that they could think of.

They headed back up the stairs and Emira crept into her room, excited to talk with Edric about her night. But, to her surprise, he didn’t file into her room right behind her. She waited a moment and then stuck her head out of the door to see if he was in the hallway. When she didn’t see him, she wasted no time heading over to his room to see what was wrong.

“Is everything alright, Ed?” she said as she poked her head into his room. It was always so messy in here.

“Yeah. I’m just tired. I’m gonna get some sleep.” He sat on the edge of the bed before falling over onto his bed, sprawled out.

Emira knew Ed very, very well at this point in her life. She knew when he was tired and when he wasn’t. And Ed right now? He was positively bursting with energy. He certainly wasn’t tired at the very least.

“Are you sure? Because I was hoping we could talk about tonight. It looked like you had a good time too.” She reached her hand out and touched his shoulder, surprised when he rolled further onto the bed, away from her touch.

“Hmm. No, I’m too tired. Maybe later.” He was now curled up and facing completely away from her. She couldn’t even see his face. 

“Come on, Ed. Let’s just-” She started to reach towards him before he sat up and finally faced her. He looked like he was about to cry.

“Are you not getting it? I’m trying to give you what you want. You don’t want to be ‘stuck with me forever’. So I’m giving you some space.”

Emira didn’t think she’d ever seen him this upset at her. And all of this over that? It was just a stupid comment. It wasn’t supposed to be something he got hung up on.

“Ed, It’s not like that. It’s not-” she started, before he dove under the blankets and rolled over away from her.

“I don’t want to hear it. We can talk later.” He stuck his head out from under the blanket, but still didn’t turn to face her. “I just had probably the best night of my entire life. This is not the conversation I want to end it on. Good night, Emira.”

Somehow, being called Emira instead of Em stung. But she wasn’t going to push things further. She didn’t want to spoil his night any more than she already had. “Good night, Ed.”

Instead of heading to her own room, Emira headed to Amity’s instead. She’d expected to find her younger sister sleeping, but she was sitting in the open windowsill, looking out at the horizon seemingly deep in thought. If she even noticed Emira’s entrance, she paid it no mind.

“Hey.” was all Emira was able to say, sounding much more down than she’d meant to.

“Hey.” Amity finally looked over her way. “Is it just you?”

“Yeah. Sorry to disappoint.” Emira was only half-joking. “Everything alright with you? You know I’m here if you want to talk.”

Amity smiled softly at Emira. “Yeah, I know that. But I’m still kind of processing stuff from tonight. I promise we’ll talk once I’ve given it some more thought. But how did things go with you guys? I noticed that your dates hadn’t shown up.”

Emira sighed wistfully, which got a raised eyebrow from Amity.

“I really, really want to talk about it, but I don’t think that’s a conversation I should have without Ed. So, when its all three of us again, I’d love to talk.” Emira was trying to avoid eye contact with Amity at the mention of Ed, which didn’t go unnoticed.

“Where is Ed? I expected the two of you to kick my door down and bother me about my night. I was almost looking forward to it.” Amity chuckled a bit at the mental image of the Twins literally kicking the door down.

Emira took a deep breath and let out the longest, loudest sigh Amity had ever heard. It was almost impressive.

“Ed’s mad at me and he has every right to be. I don’t even know how to start fixing it because he doesn’t want to talk to me.” Emira’s hands were clenched and her eyes were pointed straight at the ground as she spoke. Amity was realizing that she actually wasn’t very familiar with Em’s nervous habits, as the girl rarely seemed nervous.

Amity climbed down from the windowsill and closed the open window behind her. She stood next to Emira and grabbed her hand and led her over to the bed where they could both sit down.

“What happened?” she tried her best to sound like she wasn’t accusing Emira. Amity knew she could sound like her Mother sometimes, but she really didn’t mean to.

“It was when we were training Luz for Grom. Ed wanted us to say our worst fears. I wanted to get back at him for this morning so I said my worst fear was being stuck with him forever.” Emira knew that Amity had been standing a few feet away when it happened, but she also knew that Luz probably kept her distracted the whole time so maybe she hadn’t even heard that exchange.

“What? Why would you say that? And in front of everybody?” Amity couldn’t stop herself from being angry at Emira. When Em flinched at her tone, she tried to calm herself down.

“I was just being petty. I didn’t think he’d take it seriously. I mean its got nothing to do with Ed, but its technically kind of true.” Emira was saying it out loud for the first time and she felt horrible about it. She felt mostly horrible for taking it out on Ed.

“What do you mean?” Amity could tell this was serious. As much as she wanted to yell at Emira for saying something like that to Ed, she wanted the full story first. She could yell at Em later.

“My greatest fear is that I’ll always be a Blight.” Emira began, “That even after I leave this house I won’t ever be able to escape this name. Nobody really knows me as Emira, just Emira Blight. Or as half of a whole. One of the Blight Twins. I love Ed to death, and I would never, ever want to hurt him, but I don’t want to be One of the Blight Twins forever. I don’t want to be a Blight forever. I just want to be Emira.”

Amity decided to imitate what she’d seen Luz do so many times before. She wrapped her arms around Emira and squeezed tightly. After a moment, Em squeezed back and Amity could very faintly hear her crying.

After staying like this for a while they were surprised to hear the door open. Ed opened the door quietly and slowly and stopped when he saw the two of them. He started to turn back when Amity stopped him.

“Ed! Get in here!” she was trying to keep her voice down, but she knew that this might be the best chance to get the two to talk.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re alright Mittens, but it looks like Emira has it covered.” His body language made it very clear that he wanted away from her right now.

“I’m fine. But Em has something she wants to say to you. Please listen.” When she mentioned Emira talking to him, she could see him getting ready to decline but after she asked like that, he deflated and simply said nothing.

Emira finally pulled her head out of Amity’s shoulder and faced Edric. Her makeup was absolutely ruined, but that was fine. It took Ed back a bit. 

“I’m so sorry, Ed. It’s nothing to do with you, I promise. I’m just afraid that I’ll be a Blight forever. I don’t want to hurt you. I’ve just been so frustrated with this name lately. I think I have been for a long time. And I’m sorry for taking it out on you. You don’t deserve that.”

Edric took a deep breath and sat down on the bed with the others. Amity’s bed was too small for this sort of thing.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said my greatest fear was being alone. I can’t stand being left alone for basically any length of time. I hate when its just me and my thoughts. And, if I’m being honest, on most days I feel like you’re all I have, Em. No offense, Mittens.” He tossed a quick glance over to Amity, with an apologetic look on his face.

“None taken. You two have been in this with only each other for so long. I imagine it would be hard not to feel that way. Continue, Ed.” She didn’t want to sidetrack the conversation.

“I guess my point is that that’s also not fair to you, Em. I can’t just put everything on you. Sorry for not just talking about it sooner.” He put his hand on Emira’s shoulder with a warm smile on his face.

“Who knew that just building frustration and not talking to each other about it would lead to problems down the line?” Amity couldn’t help but tease them. Communication is important, kids.

“I am going to bottle up my feelings until I can use them to burn this manor down and none of you can stop me.” Emira tried to look as serious as she could with her makeup running down her face. She knew Amity was right. No more secrets. Which meant the Twins had a big conversation coming soon with their younger sister.

“Not that this hasn’t been fun. But get off of my bed and out of my room. We need to find a way to talk tomorrow, because we’ve got a lot to talk about. But for now, fighting a giant monster has left me sore and tired. I love both of you. Get out.” Amity kicked them out of her room, but she did it with love.

The Twins said their good night wishes to Amity and then each other before heading to their rooms. With that all cleared up, maybe they would actually be able to sleep tonight.


	9. Of Secrets and Soil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Blight siblings have a chat (again) and Ed gets to have a big adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes a sizable chunk of this chapter is the characters all catching each other up on things the audience already knows. At this point I just have to hope that's the sort of thing y'all enjoy.

Early in the morning, Amity was given her tasks to make up for taking classes off to prepare for Grom. It was a long list of tests and papers and was definitely more work than if she had just actually gone to classes. Since it looked like she would be spending the day in the library doing work, she invited the Twins to come with her. They could have their chat in her secret hideaway.

It was only meant for one person really, so it was a bit cramped with three in here. When they first entered they had to wait for Amity to clean up a pile of her human witch books and silly drawings that had clearly been done by either her or Luz.

“So I guess this is where Azura Book Club happens?” Ed teased as he reached for the stack of drawings. He had to know what Mittens and Luz got up to in here. Without looking up from what she was doing, Amity drew a circle in the air and an Abomination’s arm appeared from the ground and drug Edric back away from the papers.

“Yes, this is where we have our meetings and if I am given any reason to suspect that you two are abusing that knowledge, I’ll take care of you myself.” They hadn’t been in here very long and Amity had found herself hiding things or pulling them away or just generally keeping them out of her stuff. It seemed like the library drew out their mischievous sides.

“We would never even dream of it, baby sister.” Emira tried to put her best pouting face on as if to imply that she was hurt Amity would even suggest such a thing.

“Now, we didn’t come here to touch all of my stuff. We need to talk. Before we talk about last night, there’s something I want to know. You two were so desperate to attend Grom. You said you’d say why, so spill it.” Amity turned her desk chair around so that she could properly face the other two.

“I said I’d tell if you asked Luz out. Did you hold up your end of the deal?” Ed was teasing but instantly felt bad when he saw how ashamed of herself the comment made Amity look.

“No. I was going to. I really was! But…” Amity took a deep breath before continuing, “Whatever that was Grom turned into that scared Luz so badly, she wasn’t ready for it. I couldn’t take it, so I got between them. And Grom turned into my worst fear then and there.”

The Twins went pale at the mere mention. No wonder Amity hadn’t been willing to talk about it.

“Right in front of Luz?” Ed was nervous asking a question he was sure he knew the answer to.

“Yeah. It was blurry and indistinct, but it was definitely her. I’m not sure Luz picked up on it, but I couldn’t mistake it.” Amity was clearly getting upset just talking about it.

“What did it do?” Emira pressed.

“It took the Grom Proposal note and ripped it, then walked away.” Amity was visibly upset, reliving the memory.

“Amity, that was just Grom the real Luz would never-” Emira wanted to do anything she could to prevent Amity from tearing up. After crying into her sister’s shoulder the night before, she wanted to spare Amity from returning the favor.

“I know.” Amity was trying, and mostly failing, to compose herself, “I know that it wasn’t the real thing. I know the real Luz was maybe three feet behind me. But I saw it walk away and all I could think about was what would I even do if I made Luz walk away like that? She’s changed everything and I don’t know if I could handle it being without her. I don’t want to hide this from her, but I’m so, so scared of making her leave.”

Emira had no idea what to say. She completely understood where Amity was coming from. Suddenly she was so grateful that Amity hadn’t been willing to have this conversation last night. She wouldn’t be able to help at all. So she looked towards Ed. He always knew what to say.

“Amity, Luz didn’t leave you even when you hated her. You were trying to make her leave and she wouldn’t go away. Even if she were to say no, I really don’t think you’ve got to worry about Luz going anywhere. Honestly, I don’t think she’s that easy to get rid of.” Edric gave his honest opinion and hoped it helped. He really had trouble imagining Luz turning Amity down, but even if she did, she would probably never walk away. That was even harder to imagine.

Amity laughed a little at that last part. “Maybe you’re right. It won’t be easy to make myself think that way, but you’re honestly probably right.”

“So what happened after that? You said you fought Grom.” Emira was trying to piece together the puzzle of what happened while she and Ed were busy.

“Oh no. You two have distracted me enough. Answer my question, then I’ll tell you what happened next. Why were you two so obsessed with making a big deal out of Grom?” Amity was frustrated that she’d let herself get sidetracked like that, but she did honestly feel better talking about it a little bit.

Ed and Em glanced at each other, neither sure who should be the one to break the news. Emira decided to handle it.

“Because this was our last Grom. Parents are putting us in the Fast Track program as soon as they can. We’ll probably be graduating at the end of the next semester, if not sooner. With our grades there’s no way we don’t qualify.”

Amity’s eyes went wide and she felt like her heart stopped.

“No, no no no. That can’t happen. You can’t leave. Do you even have anywhere to go?” Amity was in full panic mode after just getting herself calmed down.

“Technically we were invited to come to the Owl House, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a ‘You can come live here forever’ invitation.” Emira tried to joke, but she really wasn’t feeling it.

“That’s if we don’t get thrown in the Conformitorium before then.” Ed brought it up casually, but the mere suggestion made Amity go pale.

“The Conformitorium?! Oh please tell me they haven’t threatened you with something like that.” Amity was now physically unable to sit in her seat, getting up and attempting to pace around the tiny room to spend nervous energy.

“We’ve been pushing our luck with them lately and it might have come up.” Emira didn’t want to stress Amity out even more, but she’d resolved to keep no more secrets between them.

“Okay we need to organize and come up with a plan. No more just hoping things get better. This place isn’t safe for you two anymore. We need a solid plan.” Amity was in full top student take charge mode.

“Honestly, I’m not that worried about it. We’ll figure things out. We always do. I’m just worried about you, Mittens. I don’t want you there without us. It’s not safe for you either.” Edric stood up and tried to put a stop to Amity’s pacing by grabbing her shoulders.

“If they find out about me and Luz, they’ll blame you two, won’t they?” Amity’s face indicated that this thought had only crossed her mind just this instant.

“Do. Not.” Emira didn’t stand up, but she pointed a finger and tried to glare a hole through her sister. “You keep going like you are. We can fight our own battles. Do not let them dictate a single thing about your relationship with Luz.”

“But-”

“No buts. Em’s right. We want to see you happy. If you let this time with Luz go past because of them, you’ll regret it. We’ll regret it. Don’t make us take an everlasting oath over this. We will do it.” Edric let go of Amity and sat down back by Emira.

“Alright, now spill what happened with Grom.” Em made sure to put some force behind her words. The previous topic was over now.

Amity clearly still had a lot to say, but got the hint. She sighed and attempted to sit back down. It probably wouldn’t be long before she was up again.

“Well after that Luz picked up the note off the ground. And-”

“So she knows?” Emira perked up and didn’t even let Amity finish.

“Not quite. It was ripped up, so she didn’t see the part with her name on it. She thinks I was just scared of rejection in general. Which is kinda true. But its a specific fear of general rejection. Anyways, then she asked if I would rather go to Grom with her instead. And….. we kinda had the most magical dance in the world.” Amity couldn’t bring herself to look at her siblings for the last part. She was used to this routine by now. She says something like that and then they all laugh and carry on.

“Aw, I want to laugh, but that’s actually the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.” Normally Ed would tease Amity to no end about something like that, but it was just too sweet. 

“That’s crazy! I spent the night having a dance too!” Emira’s whole face lit up when she finally got the chance to tell the others about her night.

“Wait, did you?” Edric seemed confused.

“Ed, you were in the same room. You saw me.” Emira was frustrated with Ed. How could he have not seen?

“Sorry. I guess I was…. Distracted.” A very light blush came to Ed’s cheeks when he thought about the night prior. 

“Oh that’s right! Ed was making out with the guy over in the corner.” Emira was grinning from ear to ear as she watched Ed’s face light up completely red in an instant.

“Wait, what?” Amity couldn’t help but laugh a bit between Em’s grin and Ed’s face.

“I did not!” Edric cried out. “We…. We just talked.”

“Yeah, you talked about smoochin’” Emira couldn’t help but laugh up until Ed grabbed her braid and pulled on it.

This proceeded to start a fight between the twins that Amity had to break up because there was not nearly enough room for all of that nonsense in this little hideaway.

“Okay if your dates didn’t show up, then who did you two end up spending time with?” Amity was now dying to know who they had gotten to spend this time with. It sounded like they’d actually had a good time at Grom somehow.

“Are you familiar at all with the Dual Track students?” Emira tried to get one last hit in on Ed, but when Amity glared at her, she decided not to.

“Yeah, everyone’s heard of them these days. I think they’re friends of Luz.” Amity was trying to remember them and what tracks they were in, but she was having trouble remembering.

“Well her name is Viney and not to brag, but I think I’ve got her wrapped around my finger.” Emira gave her hair a dramatic flip to emphasize her point.

“Now I wish I’d been paying more attention. I’d love to fact check that. Especially since the last I saw of you two involved you struggling to make a full sentence.” Ed had his doubts about Emira’s story. Specifically he was sure she was lying about probably all of it.

“How about you then, Hotshot? Why don’t you give us some of the details of your night? You said it was ‘probably the best night of my entire life’. So something had to have happened.” Emira gave off an indignant huff. Sure maybe things hadn’t gone perfectly smoothly. And sure maybe her leg was still sore, but none of them knew that. And that’s the important part.

“It was! And we really did just talk. But, I don’t know…” Edric was starting to turn red and began avoiding eye contact as he trailed off.

Emira prodded him in the side as hard as she could. Since he was trying to avoid eye contact, he never saw it coming. After a shrill yelp from him, she made her demand. “Spill. It.”

Another fight was about to break out when Amity cleared her throat very loudly which got them both to stand down.

After a sigh Edric spoke up, “I guess what I’m trying to say is that we just talked, but -and I’m worried that I’m jumping to conclusions- I think we might have made an actual connection.”

“You worry too much. You just need to talk to him.” Emira made it sound like it was so easy. She quickly turned her gaze to Amity “And you need to talk to Luz.”

“Oh would you look at that. Time’s up. I have a lot of work to do, so I’m kicking you both out now. Have a good day! See ya! Bye!” Amity quickly spun around in her chair and summoned an Abomination to threaten the Twins out. She wouldn’t be able to get anything done while they’re here anyways.

Once they were out in the library proper Emira stuck out her tongue. “I don’t know how she works with those things. Abominations are gross.”

“So what do we do now?” Ed stretched his arms and legs now that they were out of the cramped space. The conversation with Amity had taken less time than they’d figured it would, so now the Twins had a few hours to themselves.

“I have a plan. We go to the Owl House. We just spend some time with Luz. Nothing too obvious. We use that time to try to figure out if Mittens even has a chance.” Em seemed confident in this plan immediately. 

“I’m game, but what if she’s not there?”

“Then we leave. We leave as fast as we can. We do not look at the Owl Tube. We do not speak to the Owl Tube.” Emira had the expression and tone of someone who had been deeply traumatized by the things they’d seen in a war.

Without wasting any further time, the Twins left the front door of the library and waded through the market on the way to the Owl House. As they arrived at a point where the crowd was thinning, there was a loud crashing sound that drew the attention of not only the Twins, but also everyone in the area.

The source of the noise was a young man who was currently trapped under a now collapsed stand. The stand owner was frantically trying to salvage what he could and try to prevent what hadn’t been destroyed from falling off too.

Pulling himself up from the wreckage was Jerbo, who quickly turned to help the stand owner.

Edric suddenly changed course and hurried over to where Jerbo was, with Emira following shortly behind.

“I am so, so sorry!” Jerbo was nervously apologizing to the witch running the stall who seemed to largely have things under control at this point. He had six arms, which seems like it would be very convenient at times like this.

“Everything alright here?” Ed approached the stand a little too out of breath to allow for pretending to be casual while Emira strolled up at a more relaxed pace.

“H-hi, Ed. I was hoping you didn’t see that.” He shot a quick nervous smile towards Ed while trying to help fix the stall. It was Ed’s first time seeing him in casual clothes instead of his school uniform, even if it was now a little disheveled.

“Well I saw it!” The witch running the stand was clearly not happy. “I hope you can pay for this!”

Jerbo looked mortified at the mere prospect. 

“Charge it to the Blights.” Edric stood with his arms crossed as he stared down the shopkeep. Jerbo’s head frantically whipped back and forth between Ed and the shopkeep.

“Fine. But I’m gonna charge you more than I would’ve charged him. The Blights aren’t hurting for it.” The shopkeep and Edric exchanged some information and once that was taken care of he turned back to Jerbo to issue one final warning. “You got lucky this time, but watch where you’re going next time.”

“Yes sir. Sorry, sir!” Jerbo was frantically trying to get his dropped bags as organized as he could and hopefully away from this whole disaster, but he had clearly been trying to carry too much at once which was the cause of this to begin with.

“Let me help.” Ed wasted no time trying to help Jerbo with the mess of bags he was trying to carry.

“You’ve already helped enough, I can handle it from here!” Jerbo laughed nervously as he tried to begin moving, only to immediately drop two or three bags.

Edric laughed and moved over to help him. Emira had spent the whole time sizing Jerbo up. So this was the guy that had her brother in such a mess? She was not impressed.

“H-Hi.” Jerbo didn’t know what to make of Emira’s stare, so he thought that maybe a greeting couldn’t hurt. “I don’t think we spoke last night. I’m Jerbo.”

“Hello Jerbo. I’m Emira.” Emira realized what a chance she had here and couldn’t help herself. “It’s nice to meet you. Ed just would not stop talking about you.”

She had to contain herself as she watched both boys light up red.

“Okay Em, you can go on ahead without me!” Edric pointed towards the market’s exit, now desperately wanting her to leave.

“Aw, but I just had to see if he was as charming as you made him sound!” Emira clasped her hands together and leaned forward innocently.

Ed didn’t wait for this to escalate any further. A spell circle in the air and a blue bubble appeared around Emira. He walked over to it and kicked it, causing it to start rolling away. He could see her yelling as she rolled away, but couldn’t hear a thing.

After watching it roll for a moment, he dispelled the bubble and then turned to Jerbo. “We should probably hurry. Where are we taking this exactly?”

It seemed to suddenly dawn on Jerbo that Ed was accompanying him and there was little he could do to stop it. “I was just headed to my house. You really don’t have to do this. I can handle it.”

“You’re right. I don’t have to do this. I want to do this.” He tried to take another bag off of Jerbo’s hands, but was quickly refused. Ed’s genuine smile quickly turned into a smirk. “So, lead the way, hotshot.”

“Don’t worry, its not far.” The two walked in relative silence through the market and into the residential area of Bonesborough. As they approached the smaller house sandwiched between two other homes, Jerbo was trying very much not to show how badly trying to carry so much stuff so far had strained him. He was relieved to set the bags down and open the door, sticking his head inside and calling out to see if anyone else was home.

“Guess its just us. Come on, let’s get this stuff to my room.” He turned and saw that Ed had picked up all of the bags as soon as they had been set down. He couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Ed struggle to fit through the door. 

“Is there any reason you didn’t just make an illusion clone or something to help carry this stuff?”

Edric just stared at him. He needed to come up with something quick. He couldn’t just say ‘Oh sorry, I was distracted by how cute you looked trying to act tough’

“Oh just trying to get a work out, you know?” He tried to puff up his chest, which quickly proved to be a bad idea while carrying so much. “But please tell me which room is yours quickly.”

“Oh! Uh, let me just make sure its presentable real fast.” Jerbo ran down the hall to the room at the end and quickly shut the door behind him.

Ed stood out in the hallway for a while, his arms begging for mercy. Finally when he was nearly ready to collapse the door opened and Jerbo welcomed him inside. Edric made his way inside and happily set all the bags on the ground.

Once his arms weren’t in agony, he allowed himself to look around. The room was much cleaner than his own as far as clutter went. The windowsill was crammed full of as many small pots of plants as possible. There was a thin layer of soil covering parts of the floor, which had clearly been hastily swept just moments prior. 

“Sorry its so messy. Probably grosses you out.” Jerbo noticed Edric’s eyes inspecting the whole room, afraid of judgement.

“I think its cute.” Edric said without thinking. Once he realized he quickly made sure he was looking anywhere but at Jerbo. “So, uh, what was all the stuff you got from the market?”

“Abomination ingredients, mostly. Some plant stuff too.” As he spoke, Jerbo sat down on the ground and started removing containers from the bags. Some of the things Edric recognized from his limited exposure to Amity’s Abominations. 

“I don’t really know a whole lot about Abominations. What’s all this for?” Ed sat down on the floor next to him, trying to help organize things. But without knowing what any of it was really he was mostly just making trouble.

Jerbo kept his eyes down, trying to stay focused on the task at hand. Not an easy thing to do with Edric sitting right next to him. “It’s just ingredients. I could explain what each one does, but all that really matters is how you mix them. It’s like cooking. It all has to be mixed and prepared just right.”

They both ended up reaching for the same container at the same time, their hands touching. Ed surprised himself by being the first to pull his hand away, not wanting to let it linger for more than a moment. He couldn’t help but feel it for the brief moment that they’d been in contact. Pure electricity.

After a long moment of silence Edric spoke up, “So, uh, that girl you’re always with. Viney? Are you two together or…”

Jerbo started laughing a little at the prospect. “No, we’re not. I mean she’s really sweet and I know what people think because we’re always together, but we’re just good friends. Why? Are you interested?”

“Not.... exactly. She’s uh, not my type. I was just curious.” As much as Ed wanted to be a little more honest, he’d only known Jerbo for a few hours in total. And he was not about to risk chasing away the first friend he’d had in ages with ‘Oh I like guys and completely unrelated: are you single?’

“Well, there’s your answer. Ed, um, thanks for this. For all of this.”

“It’s not a problem at all. I know I’m amazing. Also, what are you thanking me for?” Edric was more than happy to help, but he didn’t think he had done anything that merited thanks.

Jerbo sighed and leaned back, moving his hand dangerously close to Edric’s.

“For everything. We don’t really have a lot of friends. And on days like today where the others are all busy with their own lives, it can get a little lonely. So, thanks for helping me carry all this junk and spending some time with me.” He looked at Ed and smiled, which made the poor boy’s heart skip a beat. Did he even know how dangerous that smile was?

“Aw, don’t get all mushy on me! I have fun hanging out with you. Now, if you really want to thank me, I have an idea.” Ed finally stood up, dusting some of the soil off of his knees, with that trademark smile.

“Should I be afraid of this idea?” Jerbo smiled nervously as he stood up to join Ed. He wasn’t sure how much he was joking.

“Depends. Last time we hung out, I showed you some Illusion stuff. So now I want to see something that only you can show. Can I see your mixed magic?” Ed stood back to give Jerbo some room. He was excited to see it.

Jerbo found himself oddly proud. Something only he could show? That was right. This was something that only he could do. Something that was totally his own. He drew a circle in the air and one of the plants on the windowsill grew a little larger, infused with magic. Then he drew another and there was no visible change until he gave the order. “Abomination, Rise!”

The little flower in the window began moving as the soil raised up, having taken the shape of a tiny abomination with the flower in its head. It nearly knocked over some of the other plants as it attempted to stand up.

Jerbo quickly walked over to it and pulled it out of the pot, his movements very gentle to not harm any of the other plants on the crowded windowsill. Once they were clear, he set it down and it waddled around a bit, tracking dirt footprints as it moved.

“Aw, what a cutie! So, aside from being adorable what does it being made out of dirt do?” Ed watched with excitement as it seemed to be looking for something.

“It’s not just an abomination made of dirt! It’s more the plant than anything. Most plants can’t really talk or communicate so it can be hard to tell exactly what they need. But by putting some of the plant-safe abomination ingredients into the soil, we can get the magic to bind a little bit and give the plant a temporary body to move around in.” 

Jerbo crouched down and spoke to the abomination. “All right. Abomination, show me what you need.”

It groaned and walked over to a chart that was on the far wall close to the floor. It was covered in dirt hand prints. It moved over to the section of the chart labeled ‘Soil’ and slapped its hand against the square.

“New soil? Already? You just got repotted last week.” He looked skeptically at it with his arms crossed. It defiantly slapped the Soil square again. “All right, fine. You get new soil. But if I find out you’re just being a greedy guts you’ll have to wait for everyone else before you get any more.”

“Jerbo, this is amazing. You’re amazing.” Ed had waited and watched in silent awe up until this point. First the illusion the other night and now this! Edric was now making it his mission to make sure that Jerbo never referred to himself as anything short of incredible.

“It’s nothing that special.” Jerbo had started walking over to the windowsill to grab the now empty pot.

“Yes it is! I’ve never seen anything like this! Don’t sell yourself short!” Ed wanted to grab Jerbo by his collar and shake him until he could understand how amazing he was.

Jerbo’s face was lit up completely red by now. “W-well I mean… I’m proud of it, but I’m sure anyone could-”

“No they couldn’t! If just anyone could do this, then anyone would be doing it. This is an amazing application of magic that happens to also be adorable. You should be beyond proud.” Ed wanted to say whatever it would take to get a confident response out of him.

Jerbo just stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what to even say. Edric clearly wouldn’t be satisfied until he was singing his own praises. He’d never been that confident in himself and even the transition to being one of the first Dual Track students hadn’t helped since he always just hid behind Viney.

“Thank you. I really don’t understand why you’re this nice to someone you only just met, but thanks. I am proud of it, honest. It’s just not what comes naturally to me.” Jerbo carried the empty pot with him across the room, the little Abomination following closely behind.

“Well then I guess I’ll have to stick around until it comes a little more naturally. If you don’t get sick of me first, that is.” Ed smirked and sat down on the bed, his arms crossed confidently.

“Well, I haven’t gotten sick of you yet, so keep at it. I’m gonna get this guy some soil so he stops slapping at my feet.” Jerbo smiled as the little Abomination was getting dirt all over his pant leg. He opened the door to his closet where he kept some extra soil and remembered too late what was hidden in there.

Dozens of illusions of the pink bulb from the other night drifted out, floating into the room. They drifted around as if on a breeze that no one else could feel. Edric looked at them all in wide-eyed wonder before looking at a horrified Jerbo.

“I, uh, haven’t figured out how to dispel illusions yet. Is it too early to ask for another lesson?” He smiled nervously and set the pot gently on the ground.

Edric just laughed and laughed. Jerbo didn’t think he could ever get sick of that sound.


	10. Of Slitherbeasts and Sexualities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emira's adventure at the Owl House doesn't quite go as planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Viney is the coolest and the strongest and that's all I have to say on the matter.

Emira huffed as she walked towards the Owl House on her own. While she hated the way he chose to ditch her, she didn’t begrudge him. It was time to let Ed fly on his own a bit. Besides, maybe this was best as a solo mission anyways.

She was still a ways away from the door when the house demon spotted her.

“Hello!” Hooty screeched as he launched himself towards Emira, clearly not intending to wait for her to get closer. “How are you?”

“Hi. Um, is Luz home?” Emira was trying her best to avoid physical contact with Hooty if at all possible, which he was not making easy.

Without saying anything it suddenly retreated back into the door, which suddenly swung open as it screeched, “Luz! Your friend with green hair is here!”

It was only a few seconds later before the human came running to the door calling out “Amity!”

Emira laughed as she saw Luz’s face when she realized that she was, in fact, not Amity. Luz was trying not to look disappointed.

“Well hey there. Sorry I’m not Mittens. I’ll try to bring her along next time.” Emira couldn’t help engaging maximum smugness as she moved closer to Luz. She knew something Luz didn’t. This was going to be a lot of fun.

“Hey Em. What brings you all the way out here?” She looked around as she spoke, clearly looking for Edric.

“Just me this time. I was just thinking about spending some time with my favorite human on the Isles.” She leaned in close to Luz to whisper, “If you didn’t know, that’s you.”

“Aw, I know I’m the only human, but that still means a lot to me. Well, I know its not really your thing, but I’m doing some school stuff with a friend. If you help us get it knocked out quick then we can find something more fun to do.” Luz motioned for Em to follow her inside, which she was eager to do. Hooty hadn’t spoken in a while, but she wasn’t sure how long that calm would last.

This marked Emira’s first time actually entering the Owl House. Her eyes darted around at all the gaudy trinkets and baubles that lined the walls, especially the giant framed Wanted poster of the Owl Lady herself. Her eyes trailed down to the couch to see sitting on the floor next to the table was a familiar face.

At the same time the girl on the floor turned around to see who was coming into the room. Viney and Emira both pointed at each other in surprise simultaneously. 

“You!” they both called out.

“Oh good, you already know each other. That’s a time saver!” Luz seemed happy as she returned to the spot next to Viney on the floor, her legs folded under her.

“What is she doing here?” Emira was already red faced as she accosted the human.

“She’s helping me with some Beastkeeping stuff. I don’t know any of the animals on the Boiling Isles, so I can’t even get started until I can at least identify some of the basics. And Viney’s the best there is!” Luz was quick to defend Viney, not knowing what to think of Emira’s reaction.

“I am not the best, but I can help you with these basics. Now, I can’t help but notice that you have taken, head on, every single distraction that has come up since we got started. Have you actually retained anything I’ve said?”

Emira laughed as Luz was scolded, which caused the apparently angry Viney to point a finger at her accusingly. She didn’t say anything and quickly turned her attention back to Luz.

Luz let out a long, loud groan. “I’m sorry Viney, but just reading about all these amazing critters in a book isn’t sticking with me. I just wanna get hands on, you know?” She made grabby hands to punctuate her statement.

Viney sighed as she tossed a glance at Emira before quickly turning back to Luz. “I’d love to take you out to the stables, but school is closed on the weekends. You said you’ve got Beastkeeping first thing in the morning and if you can’t answer some of these basics, the professor won’t let you anywhere near the stables for the whole semester. So, what I need from you Luz is for you to focus.”

Emira couldn’t take her eyes off of Viney in her take charge mode. How could someone even be cute when they’re giving a stern lecture?

“Oh! Maybe you can help!” Viney suddenly turned to Emira who was completely caught off-guard by the sudden attention while she was in full daydream mode.

“M-me? No, I-I don’t think I, uh, what can I do?” If Emira could punch her own thoughts, she absolutely would. Why was forming a coherent sentence around this girl so hard?

Viney laughed at Emira’s stuttering, “Can you make illusions of the creatures in the book? It might not be directly hands on, but its probably the best we can do.”

Luz lit up with excitement at the idea. “Yeah! Plus its safe! Wait, Illusions can’t eat me, right?”

“Not permanently.” Emira smirked. As long as she kept her eyes off of Viney, she could keep her cool. And as long as she didn’t think about her. Okay this was going to be hard.

“Ominous, but I’ll take it.” Luz kept her trademark enthusiasm, no matter what.

Viney stood up and handed the book to Emira, “Let’s start small. See if you can tell us what this one is and how to approach it.” She stared at Luz as she stood next to Emira with her arms crossed.

With a task to focus on Em was easily able to regain her confidence. A quick spell circle and a small black creature with a round body and a large beak nearly the size of the rest of its body dropped onto the floor and began to scuttle around. All three of its eyes were pointing a different direction.

Luz made adoring noises as she saw it, before remembering her assignment. “That is a Skitter Critter. The easiest way to approach one is something like this!”

The human walked over to the creature and crouched down, gently extending her hand towards it. She was very careful not to make any sudden movements and kept her breathing even. It moved forward and investigated her hand before suddenly screeching out and snapping at it. Until it could be dispelled, it chased Luz around the living room

The older girls laughed at Luz’s mad scramble, which ended with her standing on the back of the couch. Viney was the first to break up the laughter.

“Okay not a ‘Skitter Critter’. It’s a Black Ambler and you can’t just hold your hand out in front of one like that. Your fingers look like a meal to them.” She took a few steps away from Emira and then turned to face her. “Can you make another please, Emira? I need to show Luz how its done.”

Emira felt her nerves spike again when Viney looked directly at her. She quickly forced herself to focus on her task and made another illusion of the Ambler. Due to her slight distraction this one was quite a bit larger than the first.

“Trying to give me a challenge, huh?” Viney couldn’t help but shoot a quick smirk Emira’s way before turning her attention to the creature. “Okay so when dealing with an Ambler you want to, first and foremost, make direct eye contact. Amblers are normally pretty tame, but you still need to establish dominance or else you’ll see aggressive actions like earlier.”

Luz and Emira both had their eyes glued onto Viney as she gave her instructions. As she stared at it, it began to move back and forth, trying to break the eye contact. After a moment of this, it suddenly turned around and faced away from her. The instant it did, Viney quickly scooped it up and held it tightly. As just an orb with a beak and legs, she simply had to hold onto the part that didn’t have a beak on it.

“Once you’ve got ‘em like this, you just gotta hold on tight. It’ll try to wiggle loose, but it shouldn’t be able to get free. From this point, you can just set it down in an enclosure or wait for it to get tired if you need to treat it or anything. That should be enough to know for the basics. Oh and they don’t normally get this big.”

Viney was clearly in her element. She spoke clearly and confidently and with a big smile on her face. Sure it wasn’t the biggest or scariest beast out there, but Emira was certain that the demonstration she had just seen was textbook perfect. 

Emira had never cared about Beastkeeping in the slightest, but she’d give anything to watch Viney teach her all about each and every creature in this book. If Emira Blight had any idea of what kind of smile she had plastered across her face, she would’ve screamed.

“Hello? Emira?” Viney called out, once again snapping Emira back to reality. “You gonna dispel this thing or should I give it a name?”

Emira’s entire face flushed red and she hastily dispelled the illusion. “Ha ha! So! What’s next?”

“Let’s let Luz try it one more time. You got this, Luz!” Viney stepped back to let Luz step up. The human gave the older girls a thumbs up to signal that she was ready to begin.

Em quickly whipped up another Ambler illusion, this one was correctly sized. As she had been instructed Luz stared into the thing’s eyes. The two stared at each other for a while, with Luz gradually coming to a terrible realization. Ever since Viney had mentioned staring it down, Luz hadn’t allowed herself to blink. She hadn’t even meant to. It wasn’t until her eyes were burning that she realized it at all. She couldn’t take it anymore and shut her eyes and began rubbing at them.

The instant she did, the Ambler screeched and launched itself at her. It managed to tackle the human to the ground before being dispelled.

Luz groaned “This stinks. I’m gonna get up there and I’m gonna make some stupid mistake and I’m not gonna be allowed into the stables! I wish we could just deal with another Basilisk or The Slitherbeast. I know how to do that.”

Viney’s eyes suddenly went wide. “Are you saying you’ve seen The Slitherbeast?”

Luz didn’t seem very excited, which was unusual for her. “Yeah… It was pretty cool…”

The Dual Track girl grabbed Luz and started shaking her. She nearly had stars in her eyes. “Luz what on earth were you doing at The Knee? What was it like? How close did you get?”

Emira couldn’t stop herself from laughing at the sudden display, it was just too cute.

“Eda took me there to help me learn a new spell. That’s where I got my ice glyph! Oh, Em was there too! She helped deal with the Slitherbeast.” Luz motioned to Emira, who seemed surprised by the sudden attention from the others.

“Oh, uh, I didn’t really do much. Luz and Amity ended up having to save us. Plus the Owl Lady is the one who actually took care of it.” Emira was very quick to sweep her own involvement under the rug. 

“No way, she was awesome! Ed and Em both made these cool magic ropes and they nearly had the thing pinned down on their own. You should have seen it!” 

Finally Viney looked at Emira and chuckled. “You tried to wrangle The Slitherbeast? You’re a hard one to pin down, Blight. Every time I think I’ve got you figured out, you throw me a curveball.”

“Th-That’s me! Always keeping people guessing! Ha! Never know what she’s going to do next!” Emira attempted to lean against the side of the couch but missed her mark and tumbled onto it instead. She managed to strike a pose upon landing that she hoped made it come across as smooth and at least partially intentional.

“Is there any chance you could show me? I’d love to even see an illusion of The Slitherbeast!” Viney was nearly jumping up and down with excitement. A chance to get up close and personal with one of the rarest creatures on the Boiling Isles!

“I don’t know… Even an illusion of that thing could be dangerous.” If she was being honest, her time with The Slitherbeast had not been pleasant and she certainly wasn’t eager to see the monster again.

“Please, Emira!” Viney was now in full puppy dog eyes mode. Poor Emira never stood a chance.

“Oh, alright fine. But let’s go outside. I don’t want the Owl Lady yelling at me for property damage.” Emira really wished she had a better ability to say no to that cute face.

With cheers from Luz and Viney the trio headed outside. If Hooty was awake, he wasn’t speaking up, which was very welcome.

“Okay give me some room, Slitherbeast is big.” As she spoke the others moved a fair distance away, Viney now actually jumping up and down in excitement. “I’m just going to make it exactly like I remember it.”

Emira cast a large circle in the air and focused her thoughts on The Slitherbeast. She had to recall it exactly as it was and not like it showed up in her dreams. Since the incident she’d had a fair few bad dreams where the thing hunted her down and she couldn’t get away no matter how far she ran. But this was not the moment to dwell on those thoughts. However, she couldn’t stop herself from thinking about it, so dwell on it she did.

When the circle was finished in front of Emira appeared an already enraged Slitherbeast. It’s fur was lightly tinted red and when it reared back to roar it revealed rows of sharp fangs. As it roared, Emira stood completely frozen, even unable to step back.

“Why is it already angry?” Viney hadn’t expected things to go like this. The Slitherbeast was supposed to be passive unless you anger it first.

“It was already angry when she first saw it! This must just be how she remembers it!” Luz was already fumbling for some of her glyph cards.

“Emira, just dispel it!” Viney watched closely as The Slitherbeast was slowly taking steps towards Emira.

Upon hearing Viney’s voice Emira snapped out of it and tried to draw a circle in the air to dispel it. As the circle was drawn, she could hear the beast’s snarls and growls as it stomped forwards. It completely destroyed her focus and so the completed circle did nothing to dispel The Slitherbeast.

Viney ran towards it and punched it on the hind leg as hard as she could. Hardly optimal Slitherbeast handling procedure, but it should be enough to shatter an illusion. She was surprised to find that it was solid. Oh right, Emira was really, really good at illusions. The punch hadn’t broken the illusion, but it had gotten the beast’s attention.

It raised a claw up to swat her away, when what looked like tree branches shot across the ground and snared its limbs. She looked over and saw Luz with her hand activating several plant glyphs at once. “Go get Emira!”

Viney didn’t need to be told twice, quickly hurrying over to Emira’s side while the beast was trying to free itself from the ever growing wooden restraints.

“Emira! Are you alright?” Viney grabbed Emira by the shoulders and shook her. Emira had frozen up again, standing motionless until she was shaken.

“I’m sorry! I can’t focus! It’s just-” Emira was more disheveled and afraid than Viney had ever seen her. She spoke so casually about the Slitherbeast incident that it hadn’t occurred to her that perhaps it had been frightening for Emira.

Behind her Viney heard the sound of the beast breaking free from its bonds. She knew that wooden limbs were never going to hold it for long. It let out another roar, which caused Emira to begin shaking in Viney’s hands. It then continued to move slowly towards them, its eyes clearly trained on Emira.

Wasting no further time, Viney scooped Emira up and began to run away carrying her. She quickly regrouped with Luz, who was hastily trying to draw some more glyphs on blank cards. As they ran, it kept its eyes locked on target before finally beginning to run after them itself.

Luz was only just able to make a wall of ice that the thing smashed into. She quickly made more ice all around them, to protect them on all sides. The beast outside snarled and growled, circling around the ice looking for an entrance.

“Good news is, we’re safe for now. Bad news is, we’re definitely trapped in here.” Luz looked worried about Emira. 

Viney put her hands on Emira’s shoulders and pulled Emira’s head up to look her in the eyes. “Emira, it’s okay. Just breathe.”

Emira tried to steady her breathing, but she wasn’t having much luck with her eyes spotting the Slitherbeast circling them. Viney was quick to notice.

“Hey, don’t look at that. Look at me. It’s going to be okay. I’m here with you.” She didn’t look away from Emira or break contact. She made sure Emira had her full focus.

Emira didn’t say anything, but just nodded and kept her eyes locked onto Viney. As their eyes met, Viney smiled and spoke calmly. “Okay, now I want you to take a deep breath. Hold it for a second, then breathe back out. Can you do that for me?”

Emira nodded again before following the instructions given. A deep breath in. Hold it for a second. Breathe out.

Viney followed along with her, helping show the cycle of breathing. Luz sat down next to Emira and placed her hand on Emira’s back as a show of support.

A few breaths into the process, the beast slammed against ice again. The ice barely budged, but the noise and action had nearly reset all of their progress on calming Emira down.

“Hey, you’re doing great. Just keep breathing. Don’t worry, I’m right here.”

It only took a few more breaths before Emira seemed ready to speak. “Sorry…”

“No, I should be the one that’s sorry! I pressured you into making this thing even though you said it could be dangerous. I’m so sorry Emira.” Viney saw Luz wrap her arms around Emira and squeeze her and wasted no time doing the same. 

“Sorry, Em…” Luz nuzzled into Emira’s back as she issued her apology.

Emira enjoyed the moment, even letting the snarls and growls outside the ice fade away for a moment. The moment was interrupted with another slam to the walls of ice.

Emira Blight forced herself out of the embrace and stood up, staring the Slitherbeast in its eyes through the ice. “You are just being distracting. We’re trying to have a moment here.”

She glanced over at the others and smirked. “Think you’ve seen enough Slitherbeast for now?”

“Yes, please!” Both Viney and Luz called out. Music to Emira’s ears.

One more circle in the air and the beast was finally dispelled, everything finally falling quiet. Emira looked over at the other two girls, with her arms crossed.

“Have we learned a lesson about listening to Emira when she says that an illusion might be dangerous? Kind of an expert here.”

“Yes, but I hope you’ve learned a lesson about not joking about things that are actually upsetting to you. I never would’ve asked if I had known.” Viney crossed her arms to mirror Emira as the two stared at each other for a moment. Luz silently looked back and forth between them.

Em was quickly reminded how difficult it was to stay mad at Viney and before long a smile broke on her face. “Alright, fine you win. Sorry for not being more honest. Thank you for helping me.” She realized she was staring into Viney’s eyes and suddenly turned to Luz. “Both of you! You were awesome out there!”

“Yeah, I’m getting the hang of this action stuff. It’s just a shame that this won’t help me get into the stables.” Luz went from excited to worried in an instant. Seems she didn’t do anything slowly.

“I think that if you just keep cool and don’t overthink things, you’ll be just fine Luz. You handled yourself great out there. Besides, once I’m let back into the regular Beastkeeping classes I’ll vouch for you. So no worries kid.” Viney was quick to reassure Luz, which seemed to lift her spirits.

“I don’t want to break up the moment, we’re all doing some great bonding right now and I’d love to keep that momentum going, but any ideas for getting out of this ice block?” Emira was looking around the walls they were trapped in, trying to see if there was a gap or crack or something they could use.

“I could make another pillar under us. It would shoot us up and out. Back on The Knee Amity put me in this glowy cage thing and that’s how I got out. But I had a soft layer of snow to catch my fall there. I think it might not be so fun here.” Luz was looking at cards drawn up of her three available glyphs, trying to decide if any of the others would be helpful.

Viney quickly drew a circle in the air, which appeared to do nothing. “Do it. I won’t let you get hurt.”

Luz simply shrugged and began drawing the ice glyph on the ground beneath them using a broken off piece of wood from one of her plant glyphs earlier. “Everyone ready?”

Emira was about to voice some of her concerns with this plan, but before she could Luz jumped onto the glyph to activate it. Nearly instantly the three were launched up into the air by the ice. Viney seemed the calmest as she drew another circle in the air.

Almost instantly there was a screech and a griffin flew towards them, quickly scooping Viney up and carrying her over to Luz who Viney effortlessly pulled onto the griffin’s back. They then came for Emira and caught her when she was much closer to the ground than she’d cared for.

The griffin circled around in the air once more before finally touching down on the ground. Once she helped the others dismount, Viney was quick to begin hugging and praising the griffin.

“Such a good girl! You are gonna get so many treats when we get home! Say thank you to Puddles everyone!” Viney squished her face against Puddles’ side and was hugging her as tightly as she could.

Luz was barely able to offer up her thanks between freaking out about being so close to an actual griffin. Once she was given the okay by Viney, she quickly began to squish herself against it as well.

“Thank you Puddles. You seem like a sweetheart.” Emira wasn’t quite as willing to fling herself into the griffin as the others, but she definitely didn’t want to seem unappreciative.

“She’s the best! And she’s so sweet! I’ll have to take you for a fly sometime!” Viney’s smile was absolutely glowing as she talked about Puddles. It was clear that she loved this griffin very, very much.

With a dopey smile on her own face Emira simply agreed. “I’d like that.”

“I think we’ve had enough excitement for today. We should head back inside and do something more relaxing.” It was odd to hear Luz say something about calming down, but she was honestly right.

“Oh. Uh, I called Puddles out here, so I owe her some treats. You can’t make a griffin fly this far for no reason. So, I’m gonna take her back home and get her taken care of. Sorry to leave so early.” Viney had never fully dismounted, intending to take Puddles back home.

“That’s alright. Maybe we can do this again sometime. I think the three of us make a good team. Besides, I need to talk to Em anyways. Stay safe!” Luz waved to Viney as she was getting ready to take off.

“I’m gonna hold you to that offer for a free flight.” Emira grinned at Viney as she waved goodbye.

“You better believe it! I’ll see you guys later!” Viney winked at Emira as she finally began flying away. It didn’t take long at all before she disappeared over the trees of the forest.

“So what did you want to- whoa!” Emira was interrupted by Luz grabbing her hand and pulling her along. She led them back inside and upstairs into the room Luz was using as her own.

Luz quickly sealed the window so that Hooty wouldn’t be able to enter. At least not without breaking the window. She shut the door behind them and suddenly began yelling.

Emira couldn’t help but laugh as she watched Luz freaking out for seemingly no reason.

Once she was calmed down enough for words to form, Luz pointed at Emira. “You like her! This isn’t what I wanted to talk about, but you like Viney!”

“What?! No! What would even give you that idea?” Emira was visibly nervous. She watched as Luz’s expression quickly became more and more smug.

“You know, before you got here, she was asking me about you…” Luz was trying to act aloof, but couldn’t stop herself from looking over at Emira every half-second or so to see her reaction.

“W-wait, what? She was asking about me? What did she ask? What did you tell her?” Emira couldn’t stop herself from panicking and leaning forward, her voice louder than she meant for it to be.

“Ah-ha! You can’t even hide it! And don’t you dare try to lie to me. I happen to be a master of all romance tropes. The blushing, the stuttering, the way you stare at her and that smile when she’s happy? All classic signs.” Luz stood firm and confident, with a smile on her face. A smile that quickly faded when she saw Emira looking nervously away. 

Given what Emira had just been through, it hit Luz all at once that maybe this wasn’t the best time for this. She’d just gotten too excited as usual.

“Hey, it’s okay! I think it’s great! You two would be so cute together!” Luz was trying to offer up her support to make up for well, dragging Emira up here and basically forcing this conversation on her. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to corner you like this. This wasn’t even what I wanted to talk about. I just got excited.”

Emira was still red from the comment about them being cute together. “It’s fine. I mean, you need to work on your timing, but if this conversation has to happen with anyone, I’m glad its you.”

Luz’s eyes lit up. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

Emira seemed almost embarrassed. It was the first time talking about this with someone she wasn’t directly related to. “Yeah... It’s not my fault! She’s cute!”

Emira was then treated to a couple solid minutes of more yelling and physical contact from Luz. She didn’t really know what to do while this was happening, so she just sat back and let Luz either tire herself out or combust. Whichever would happen first.

Once she seemed to be calmed down a bit, she finally turned to Emira. “Em, I’m so happy for you! Man, I wish I’d known sooner! Oh my gosh, we need to figure out how to set up a date and a wedding and- and… and I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.”

Emira just laughed at Luz’s enthusiasm. “Just a little bit. We haven’t really known each other long. We only really met at Grom. So, you know, last night. We should probably get to know each other a bit better before we start all of…. That.”

“Fair. Listen, if you ever need someone to talk to about her or any of this, I’m here for you. Oh and I guess I should make things even. You’re not alone. I’m bi!” She seemed very proud and confident in this confession.

Emira just looked at her blankly. “Bi?”

Luz deflated at the less than stellar response. “You know, like bisexual?”

Emira continued to stare at her silently.

“I like girls and guys!”

Emira suddenly perked up. “Whoa, really? I’ve never heard that term before, but that’s awesome!”

“Do labels like that not exist on the Boiling Isles?” Luz hadn’t even considered the possibility that the terms just didn't exist for witches.

“I… guess not?” Emira didn’t really know exactly what Luz was talking about, so it was hard to confirm or deny.

“Oh come on! Boiling Isles even abbreviates to BI! Well maybe its a human thing. But back in the human world there’s all kinds of labels for different identities.” Luz reached into a bag she kept on the floor next to her bedroll and after a moment of rummaging around, pulled out a little pin with three stripes on it, they were pink, purple and blue.

Emira took the pin when it was handed to her and looked at it closely, then back to Luz. It had to be related to what she was talking about, but she couldn’t figure it out for the life of her.

Luz smiled and clarified, “That’s the colors of the Bi Pride Flag! If you were to see someone with a pin like that, you’d know that they were Bi too! The colors all mean stuff, but honestly I forget what. I’d have to look it up.”

Emira looked at the pin again, now with understanding. For humans it was a way to let others know they weren’t alone. What a comforting thing it must be. She handled it gently as she gave it back to Luz. 

“Thank you for confiding, Luz. You’re safe with me. Is there a term for a girl who likes girls?” Emira seemed genuinely curious about this particular facet of human trivia. 

“Oh yeah! Girls who like girls are called Lesbians! I mean a lot of people also use the term Gay as well, but that’s technically guys who like guys. Gay kinda ended up being shorthand for ‘any same-sex relationship’. There’s a lot more stuff to know about all of this, since identity is so important to people, but I’m honestly still pretty new to this stuff myself. So, there’s a lot I don’t know and a lot I’m not qualified to explain.” Luz seemed excited to talk about this with Emira. She briefly wondered if Luz had ever been given a chance to have a discussion like this before.

“That all sounds complicated. Humans are complicated. But thank you for telling me! We can talk about this more later. You said that none of this was what you wanted to ask me and we have gotten very, very sidetracked. What’s up?” Emira could tell that if she didn’t force Luz to focus they could be here for hours without ever actually talking about whatever Luz wanted to know.

“Oh, right! Thanks, I forgot!” She quickly put her pin back in the bag and then dug around for something else, quickly pulling a piece of brightly colored paper. It had been crumpled up and was dirty, but when she smoothed it out Emira immediately recognized it. Amity’s letter to ask Luz out to Grom.

“I don’t know if she talked to you about what happened, but when Amity tried to save me from Grom, it turned into a person. A person who grabbed this note and tore it up. She was afraid of being rejected by whoever this note was meant for. Grom was all blurry and goopy so I couldn’t tell who. Do you have any idea who Amity wanted to ask out? Any idea at all?” Luz was more serious than Emira had ever seen her. And more focused too. 

Emira picked up the note and read over it several times without managing to actually read it at all. Her mind was going as fast as it ever had. 

This was a perfect chance. Just tell Luz the truth and maybe everything could work out. But was that fair to Mittens? Her mind was filled with dread at the thought of reversed roles. What if she just bumped into Viney one day and she had already been told everything? What if it had made Viney afraid to look her in the eyes? What if it made her disgusted? Even if it worked out, she’d have been robbed of the chance to make that connection for herself. No, Mittens deserved this.

“No clue.” Lying was something Emira was pretty good at. Lying about attending classes, lying about where she and Ed had been, lying was a pretty common thing for her. But this lie made her feel gross. “Mittens keeps to herself about stuff like this.”

Luz looked disappointed as she took the note back. “I figured, but I had to ask. I just thought maybe she’d told you or Ed.”

“Why do you want to know so badly?”

Luz sighed and looked around before finally looking Emira in the eyes. “Because, Amity deserves to be happy. And if there’s someone out there who can make her happy, I have to do something to help her. I can tell Amity’s been alone for a long time. I don’t want her to be alone anymore.”

Emira was nearly gawking at Luz. Listening to Amity gush about how thoughtful and kind Luz was came rushing back to her. This girl really only ever thought about other people.

“What about you? Is there someone out there that can make you happy like that?” This was technically the recon Emira had come here to do to begin with. Admittedly she’d learned much more about Luz than she’d meant to, but hey here we are anyways.

“Hmm… Nah!” She seemed to think about it for a half second before smiling and giving her answer.

Emira grinned that knowing grin. “So you’re sure there’s no one out here pining for you?”

“Emira, please. I’m pretty sure I’d notice if someone was interested in me.” Luz looked indignant at the implication that something like this would slip past her. The irony wasn’t lost on Emira.

“Alright, alright! But be sure to keep your eyes open. You never know.” Emira stood up and stretched. She needed to regroup with Ed as soon as possible. “I think I need to be heading back now. Not that this hasn’t been exciting.”

“Aww, alright. I had fun hanging out with you. Even the scary parts.” Luz still had Amity’s note in her hand, holding it as gingerly as she could. As though it were the most important thing in the world. “Oh and please don’t tell Amity about this. I don’t want her thinking I’m snooping around in her business.”

Emira laughed, “You kind of are. But you’re the world’s sweetest snoop, so my lips are sealed. Now, we have got to stop getting giant killer monsters involved when we hang out. It’s a bad theme.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so bad for taking this long to actually get Luz involved. She's one of my favorite protagonists of all time and boy do all of these people need her in their lives.


	11. Beastkeeping Buddies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emira thinks Luz needs a little push to prepare for her Beastkeeping exam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got completely scrapped and rewritten more than once, so sorry this is a bit later than usual! Also I'm not sure it will ever be important enough to be a big deal, but Edric's experimentation with deciding whether he prefers to present feminine or masculine is like a thing that he does in his free time. It's probably not majorly important but its just a thing that he does that gets referenced sometimes.

Ed and Em had, at the end of their respective long days, managed to regroup and hole up in Emira’s room. Standard procedure for the twins.

Emira was the first to recap her day, telling Ed all about Viney’s unexpected appearance and gushing about her enthusiasm with the creatures and her gentle care with her when the Slitherbeast had left her stunned. And of course she couldn’t go without mentioning that Viney had effortlessly picked her up.

Ed laughed and made kissing noises as she went on and on. Now that she was practiced at it, Emira was easily able to make an illusion of Black Ambler which was quick to attack Edric for her. Once she was satisfied with the amount of chaos it had caused, she dispelled it.

Once he composed himself, Ed sat back up. “Why on earth did you make an illusion of the Slitherbeast to begin with? Even if you didn’t have any hangups with it that would be dangerous. You knew that, right?”

Emira groaned and threw herself onto the bed for additional drama. “I know! But, ugh, she had those cute puppy eyes! I don’t think I could’ve said no if I tried!”

“Sounds like you’ve got it bad.” Ed couldn’t look more smug if he were trying. At least up until a pillow was launched into his face at full force.

“It’s not like you’re any better! ‘Oh please let me help you carry your bags! I’d do anything to spend time with you!’” Emira stood on the bed with another pillow at the ready. “For ditching me like that you two better have made out.”

“It’s not like that! I mean, I like him but that’s not what our relationship is like. We’re just friends.” 

“So you’re saying you’ve chosen death then.” Emira cast a quick spell to make the pillow a few times larger as she leaned back in preparation to fling it. “The next time you do something like trap me in a ball and kick me away, you’d better come away from it as more than just friends.”

She launched the pillow at Edric who did his best to catch it only to become trapped under it anyways. He quickly wiggled out from under it and threw the first pillow she’d launched at him back at her.

“We haven’t even known each other that long. You know I can’t just spring something like that on him. Besides, have you even had that chat with Viney?” Ed smirked as his pillow and hopefully his words hit their target.

Emira was sprawled out on the bed after the pillow knocked her down. She grumbled and groaned before speaking up. “No, I haven’t. I kind of had it with Luz though?”

“Wait, with Luz?” Ed was pretty confused. Just what had he missed over at the Owl House?

“Yeah, apparently I was too obvious around her. She caught on and asked me if I liked Viney. We had a whole chat.” Emira seemed exhausted just recalling it.

“You told her the truth? I hope she appreciates what kind of trust that takes.” Ed was kind of jealous. Someone outside the family who supported them sounded nice.

“I think she does. She told me some interesting stuff too. You can’t tell anyone else this. And I mean anyone. It turns out she likes both girls and guys.” Emira was now sitting on the edge of the bed leaning forward excitedly towards Edric who was also lit up with excitement at this point.

“So Mittens has a chance?” Gears were already turning in his head. They just had to find some way to get the two to talk about it. Of course no one knew better than him how difficult that actually was.

“I’d say she has more than just a chance. Luz is so, so worried about making Amity happy. I know she’s an almost literal ray of sunshine to everyone, but the way she talked about Amity felt different. Maybe I’m misreading signals, but I think she might have some feelings for Mittens too. Not sure if she realizes it yet.”

It was weird having to catch Ed up to speed like this. This was two days in a row that they had gone on their own separate adventures. She knew it was for the best, especially for Ed, but she was just so used to him always being with her. It just felt off.

“Well that’s great! Maybe we don’t even have to do anything. They’ll probably realize what’s going on sooner or later.” Edric hadn’t been very excited about the idea of trying to push them together before they were ready and was glad to hear that things would likely play out naturally. No push needed.

“Yeah. Oh get this. Luz is trying to figure out who Amity was trying to ask to Grom! I nearly died!” Emira didn’t bother to hold back her laughter around Ed who quickly joined in. 

While they were laughing, the door opened. Amity poked her head inside. “What’s so funny in here?”

Both Ed and Em didn’t hesitate to fling pillows at their dearest baby sister. “None of your business!” Amity didn’t catch which one one of the two had called out because of the pillow assault, but it hardly mattered.

It took but a moment to make an Abomination to fight back. She made sure each pillow was as covered in Abomination goo as possible before preparing to fire. Ed and Em realized what fate was about to befall them and quickly scrambled to hide behind Emira’s bed.

“Ed, I know this could be the end. And I want you to know that I love and respect you for what you’ve done.” Emira put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. She then gripped it as hard as she could and prepared to push him out into the line of fire. “Now fulfill your destiny!”

Ed tumbled out into the open room and was instantly pummelled with a goopy pillow. Amity’s Abominations have incredible aim. Now sore and covered in purple goo, Ed chose to simply lay there. He mumbled something into the floor as he laid face down, but no one could understand a word of it.

Emira pulled off her shoe and threw it out into the open, watching it get knocked out of the air by Amity’s other pillow. She’d managed to save her own skin and given herself an excuse to go buy new shoes. Win-win. She triumphantly stood up from behind the bed.

Her smug grin was quickly wiped off of her face as Ed suddenly snapped up and threw the pillow that had clobbered him directly onto Emira’s face. The look of pure anger on her face behind the purple slime was enough to cause Ed to go skittering away, quickly hiding behind Amity.

“Edric Blight come over here. I just want to talk.” She spoke unnervingly calmly.

“I’d love to talk, but I have to go take a shower now. Love you lots! Bye!” He turned and sprinted down the hallway to get to the bathroom as quickly as he could.

With Ed gone Emira’s glare was redirected towards Amity who was still standing in the doorway. “You’re so good at Abominations, Amity. Come over here so I can see it closer.”

Amity winced. “No, I think I’m good on that one. I need to go make sure I got all my work done. G-Goodnight Emira!” She quickly closed the door and hurried over to her own room, getting in so much of a hurry that she accidentally locked the Abomination outside before remembering to dispel it.

Emira spent the rest of the time until she could take her own shower plotting her revenge.

=======

Amity received a rude awakening the next morning with Emira frantically shaking her awake. Whatever dream she’d been having was instantly pushed out of her mind as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

“Mittens! Your gross Abomination junk! It didn’t come out of my hair!” Emira pointed to a small patch of purple near her bangs.

“If it didn’t come out when you washed it, it should come out in a day or two.” Amity mumbled in a sleepy haze. 

“A day or two?! We have classes in like an hour or so! I cannot have this purple spot in my hair for a day or two.”

Amity groaned as she begrudgingly accepted that Em wasn’t going to let her go back to sleep. “It’s barely even noticeable. Besides, can’t you just use illusion magic to fix it or something?”

“Ugh, its almost impossible to get this exact shade of green and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the green is an important part of my aesthetic. I’d have to pick out new lipstick, new nail polish and maybe even change tracks to something that matches better than the illusion colors. No, just not an option.” 

Amity just stared groggily at Emira. How had she survived this long? “Em, this really isn’t that big of a deal. But if you want, I could use an abomination to dye the whole thing purple. Might be a good look.”

Emira looked deeply offended at the mere notion. “Completely disgusting. Ugh, believe it or not I’m up this early for a reason. I thought we could head to school a little early. My sources tell me that Luz has been freaking out about a Beastkeeping thing that’s happening today. I bet she’d feel better if she had someone there to wish her good luck!”

Amity seemed to perk up at the idea. “Wait, are you spying on Luz or something?”

Em decided not to mention speaking to Luz yesterday. She didn’t want Mittens to suspect that she was running interference. “Nah. I just have my very trustworthy sources.”

“Just don’t do anything weird around her. Or say anything weird. Actually, just stay away from her if you can.” Amity began the process of getting up and getting ready which began with the crucial step of kicking Emira out.

Emira decided to set about her next major task: waking up Ed. Ed and Amity were always waking her up, so it was time for payback. She paced back and forth outside of his room trying to come up with something perfect. Maybe a bunch of Black Amblers let loose on him? Oh, maybe an illusion of loverboy? Oh, now that idea she liked.

She opened the door and saw Ed not in his bed. He was already up and even dressed for school. He was sitting at his desk, facing away from the door. As soon as he heard the door open, he quickly began rubbing his face, trying to wipe something away.

Emira knew exactly what he was doing, because she’d helped him with it many times. He was probably practicing with eyeliner again. “I wish you’d let me see before you wipe it off. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do it yourself. I need to know if you’re garbage at it or not.”

Ed turned to face her with smudged eyeliner and even some hastily wiped off green lipstick. “Sorry, I thought it might be mom or dad. You’re not usually up this early.”

Emira laughed and indicated for Ed to look in the mirror. “You might want to work on your removal technique, you missed some. Keeping a cloth handy helps, don’t just wipe it off on your sleeve, you slob. Seriously if it had been one of them you’ll need to do better than that.”

Ed largely disregarded her as he made sure to clean up completely this time. “So why are you up this early? Is there some disaster I should know about?”

“Uh yeah. We’re gonna get front row seats to watch Mittens try to wish Luz good luck.”

“Oh, that will be a disaster. Well, I’m already set for school. Mittens is probably ready or almost ready. That just leaves you. You need to go wash your hair and get that purple junk out.” Ed stood up and moved her out of the room with him as he shut the door behind himself. “I’m gonna go get food.”

Emira stared daggers at Ed as he headed down stairs. The purple mess was why she wasn’t ready to begin with. Mittens had said it wasn’t even noticeable, but Ed had spotted it no problem. Of course Ed would spot it, he saw her every day so it was easy to notice when something was different. Even still, this would probably be a good day to skip classes.

After a rush of getting ready and a hasty meal, the Blights managed to make it to Hexside before most other students. By the time they arrived all the rushing felt unnecessary as they realized that Luz usually ran things to the last second, so they’d be waiting on her for a while.

Emira mentioned skipping off-handedly, which got her an earful from Amity. Mittens harped on and on about how cutting classes would only hurt her in the long run and plenty of other things too Em was sure. She’d learned to just sort of zone out when Amity started in on this. Once Ed was looking her way she tried to signal for them to break away. 

“Is that Luz over there?” Ed called out while prodding Amity. He pointed over to a cluster of students. Amity snapped her head around so fast they thought she popped something. 

While she was looking away the twins quickly created illusory duplicates of themselves and hid as quickly as they could. Thanks to all the students coming in there was enough movement and noise for them to easily slip away. 

“So is there any reason we’re skipping out on wishing Luz good luck?” Ed walked behind Emira who was clearly headed somewhere specific. 

“Yeah, we’re going to go make our own luck. Luz is nowhere near ready for the test in Beastkeeping, so we’re going to help her out.” Emira pointed towards the Beastkeeping class’ stables in the distance.

“What makes you so sure she’s not ready? Have a little faith in her.” Edric was definitely interested in seeing the stables, but he didn’t want their meddling to get Luz in trouble.

“Viney’s advice was like ‘Stay calm and you’ll be fine’. When was the last time you saw Luz stay calm?” As they approached the stables, Emira was trying to figure out the best way in. Classes hadn’t started yet so it was locked up.

“That’s… a good point.”

“Right? Now we need to figure out how to get in here. If I’d thought this far ahead I would’ve brought an unlocking scroll.”

The stables were actually quite large and housed a large number of animals from all across the isles. Given how dangerous much of the wildlife could be, it was sealed up tight. The door obviously didn’t budge and the windows were locked up similarly. 

“There has to be a way for fresh air to get in. Fresh air has to circulate in with all those animals, right?” Em was now searching as hard as she could for any form of ventilation. There had to be some way in other than.

“I guess so. But I don’t know. I’m not in Beastkeeping.” Ed was still trying to find an open window, but found them all locked tight.

“Yeah, but you like animals.”

“Liking animals is not the same thing as being in the actual Beastkeeping track. I’m not seeing anything around here. Maybe there’s some ventilation on the roof?” Ed quickly conjured up a ladder to climb up to the roof. The signature mark of an Illusion Track elite is solid illusions and a ladder that could support their weight was no small feat.

Once he was up on the roof he spotted plenty of vents covered by a thin mesh.

“I think we might be able to get in from up here!” He called down to Emira as he tried to pull up some of the mesh. With a little effort and a few cuts on his otherwise immaculate hands he was able to pry the mesh up and move it aside enough for a person to fit through. Breaking into a school building and causing minor property damage. A good day.

As he started to climb through he quickly realized how high up he actually was. He also realized that he should have checked to see if there was a safe way down before climbing in. If he had a free hand he could make a spell circle and put a cushion down at the bottom. That not being the case he decided to aim for a pile of straw beneath him and hope that it was more comfortable than it looked.

He was quick to discover that a small pile of straw does not make as good of a cushion as he had been led to believe. He landed with a loud thud and laid there for a moment. He intended to lay there until everything stopped hurting when something caught his eye. Only a few feet away from him were two Dire Wolves.

They eyed him lazily before going back to sleep. Edric tried to get up slowly, being as quiet as possible. Being ripped apart by Dire Wolves was not his idea of a good morning. He kept his eyes on the sleeping wolves as he backed up towards the exit. 

Needless to say that when a hand grabbed his shoulder he screamed. The wolves were simply annoyed but seemed unwilling to get up despite the noise. Edric was pulled through the open gate which was quickly shut and locked behind him. He quickly identified the person who’d pulled him out. Viney.

“What are you doing here?” They both accused each other at once. He looked around and saw Jerbo standing behind her and over by the door was the third member of the Dual Track gang that he hadn’t quite met yet, Barcus.

“Wait, hang on. I can finish accusing you in a second.” Ed turned towards the gate he’d just been pulled through and conjured a cushion for Emira to land on. Not even a second later he saw her plummet through the air. The loud thud indicated that she had missed the cushion entirely.

Viney rubbed her temples and proceeded to pull Emira out as she had Ed. Once she was in relative safety, Emira expressed the same surprise as Edric.

“First things first. Healer duties. Are you two okay? Does anything hurt?” The twins had never seen anyone angrily offer medical help before, but here they were.

They simply nodded, unsure of what answer would calm her down. 

“Okay good. So, why are you two in here? You’d better not be trying to cause trouble.” As Viney accused them, Jerbo seemed to be backing away over towards Barcus. Seems he didn’t want much to do with an upset Viney. “If we hadn’t been here you two would’ve gotten seriously hurt!”

“We’re not here to cause trouble! Well, I mean, relatively speaking. Anyways, this was Em’s idea.” Under Viney’s gaze Ed was quick to point a finger at Emira. 

“You little jerk.” She glared at Ed before turning back to Viney. Apparently having to pull them out of a wolf’s den put her in a bad mood or something. “Okay, we wanted to sneak in here to figure out a way to help Luz with her test thing this morning. I don’t want to cause any real trouble, just find a way to help her out.”

Viney’s gaze softened at seeing Emira willing to go so far to help a friend out. After a moment of staring at the two she started laughing. “Alright, fine. That’s really sweet of you two. And full disclosure that’s why we’re here too. She’s got the spirit for this, but she needs some more time. So, what was your plan?”

Ed was interested in hearing the answer to that question too. He’d just followed Em’s lead this far, he didn’t have any clue what her actual plan was. 

Em meanwhile shifted around uncomfortably. She looked almost embarrassed. “I… didn’t really have a plan. I was hoping to figure it out when we got in here. Speaking of which, how did all three of you get in here with this place locked up so tight?”

It was Viney’s turn to look skittish. She quickly glanced over to Barcus and Jerbo before turning back to the twins. “We took a shortcut.” 

The room of secret shortcuts was the Dual Track kids’ secret haven and one of the only places where they could guarantee safety from prying eyes. She wasn’t ready to tell someone as high profile as the Blights. Not yet.

“Anyways, its lucky for you that I have an actual plan. I was thinking that Luz’s chances of not losing fingers would go way up if the animals were all slightly very heavily sedated. Which happens to be why you two didn’t get mauled by Dire Wolves.” She grinned as the twins seemed embarrassed over their lack of a plan. 

Once it seemed like Viney was done scolding them Jerbo and Barcus finally approached.

“Are you two okay? That seemed like a pretty hard fall.” Jerbo nervously asked even though he was sure Viney had already covered this. Still, he would’ve felt bad if he didn’t at least ask.

“I slept on my arm weird last night, but other than that I’m fine.” Ed offered up a weary smile to the concerned Dual Track kids. Jerbo couldn’t help but laugh a little at the comment. 

“If I end up with bruises I promise you’ll all hear me complaining for the next week.” Emira huffed and tried to appear more hurt than she actually was. Viney rolled her eyes and laughed which brought a faint heat to Emira’s face. She was getting better about not humiliating herself around Viney. They were getting more comfortable. More natural. But that smile always caught her off-guard. She was never prepared for the room to light up like that.

“So why-” Jerbo started before being cut off.

“They’re here for the same reason we are. They’re just dummies about it.” Viney already knew what he was going to ask and didn’t want to wait for the twins to put their spin on it.

“Gotcha. Hey we’re almost out of time. You about done?” He tried to remind Viney that even if they had unexpected guests they still had a time limit. Classes would be starting shortly, which meant they needed to be done and out of here in a few minutes.

“Yeah, I’ll finish up here. You go unlock the front door and let them out.” Viney headed off to go finish what she’d come here to do. 

“Wait you’re not helping her?” Emira looked accusingly at Jerbo.

“I don’t really have any relevant skills to this task. I’m just moral support. Barcus is here as our lookout. Which reminds me. Thanks for telling us someone was outside.” He wagged a finger at the dog-like member of his gang.

Barcus simply let out a low bark.

“It wasn’t my idea to wake up so early, don’t get snippy with me. Oh yeah, I don’t think you guys have met Barcus. Barcus this is Ed and Emira. Ed and Emira, this is Barcus.” Jerbo seemed proud to introduce them to his other comrade.

Barcus stared at the twins for a moment, inspecting them. As an Oracle Track student he had a certain ability to assess people.

“Uh, hi. Nice to meet you?” Emira was uncertain of what to make of his scrutiny. His eyes were scanning them up and down.

Once he seemed satisfied with whatever he’d gleaned from staring them down, Barcus tilted his head towards Jerbo and let out what sounded like a low growl. “This must be the set of twins I’ve heard you and Viney gushing on and on about.”

Jerbo found himself very glad that the twins couldn’t understand Barcus. “He says its nice to meet you too.”

“Oh wait can you understand him? That’s so cool! What kind of magic is that?” Ed lit up at this revelation. He would do anything to be able to understand animals. Emira rolled her eyes at his excitement.

“No magic. We’ve just known each other a long time. Besides, even if you can’t understand the actual words, body language is easy enough to read.”

The twins stared at him, trying to read body language. They had no idea what he’d said previously but he seemed to have a very smug smirk.

“Jerbo, you’re supposed to be kicking them out! We’re out of time!” Viney called from inside one of the pens.

Without any further prodding Jerbo unlocked the front door and tried to shoo the twins outside. “Okay, we’ll see you guys later. We’d love to hang out at lunch if you guys would have us.”

“We’d love to!” Ed answered before Emira could speak. She glared at him because she’d fully intended to skip the whole day of classes. Still if she was forced to return to classes at least she’d get to spend time with her friends.

She felt like it was only just dawning on her that she and Edric had managed to make friends somehow. After so long of only having each other and pushing everyone else away, they really had friends.

“See you later then!” Jerbo said happily as he slammed the door in their faces. They heard it lock back.

“Looks we’ll have to be back by lunch time.” Ed offered a smile as an apology to the clearly grumpy Em.

“Ugh, fine. But you have to help me fix this purple spot in my hair.” Emira mostly just wanted something to complain about since she’d found herself happy to have lunch plans. She was also realizing that none of the others had said anything about it. Maybe Amity was right. Maybe it was barely noticeable. 

The twins scurried off to some obscure corner of Bonesborough. They made sure to stay close enough to the school that they could make it back even if they lost track of time. 

It took a shockingly long time to get that shade of green just right. Everything was either too dark or too bright. But eventually they did finally get it right which meant that their illusions of themselves would be absolutely perfect from here on out. Nobody had ever noticed that the illusions had slightly lighter hair color before, but it had always nagged at them.

Once it got close to time, they headed back towards Hexside and got ready to dispel their illusions and filter in with other students. Opening the front door revealed a familiar image. Amity standing angrily. Instead of the principal this time she had personally brought their illusions with her.

“When did you two even sneak away? I spent all morning with illusions! I don’t know why I thought you two had just suddenly become good listeners.” Amity glared at her older siblings furious that they would ditch her like this.

“It was for a good cause I promise!” Emira pleaded as she dispelled her illusion. “We wanted to help Luz.”

“I don’t believe you.” She had no reason to believe such an obvious lie. The twins barely even knew Luz.

“Well why don’t you ask her yourself?” Ed smiled as he saw Luz sneaking up behind Amity. With her focus on the twins she had no idea who was behind her.

“Amity! Thank you so much for the good luck this morning!” Luz called out as she draped an arm around Amity, causing the poor thing to light up red. The twins tried their best to stifle laughter.

Amity quickly maneuvered out of Luz’s grasp and nearly fell over trying to turn to face her. “It’s no big deal. I’m sure you didn’t need luck anyways.”

“Honestly I didn’t think I was going to do well at all. I spent a bunch of time yesterday with Em and Viney trying to study up, but I had trouble getting it to stick. But the animals were all super calm! It went great!” Luz threw a smile towards Emira as she spoke, as a silent thanks.

“Wait, really?” She looked horrified as she turned to Emira. “Why didn’t you tell me you were with Luz yesterday?”

“Hey, I don’t have to tell you everywhere I go. Anyways, congrats Luz! I knew you had it in you.” Emira tried to ignore the glare she was getting from Amity as she smiled at Luz.

“Yeah good job.” Ed ruffled Luz’s hair as he congratulated her. He’d seen the Owl Lady do this when congratulating Luz and it seemed to make her happy. As a bonus it made Amity mad when it was done to her. Win-win. “But speaking of Viney, we agreed to meet up with that group for lunch. You know where they sit?”

Luz let out a loud gasp and her eyes lit up at Edric’s words. “Oh my gosh! Come sit with us! Amity, you too! They sit with me and Gus and Willow sometimes.” She proceeded to let out a noise of presumably excitement. “It’ll basically be all my friends in one place! I wonder if I could invite Eda and King?”

“Let’s not and say we did.” Amity was quick to dismiss the idea of bringing a personality like the Owl Lady into a crowded school cafeteria. “But sure, I’d love to. I’m sure Boscha can survive one lunch period without me.”

With that settled they headed to the cafeteria. Augustus and Willow were already waiting for Luz to arrive and were surprised to see her with extra people. Despite being in the same track the twins barely knew Augustus, who apparently goes by Gus now. In time the Dual Track kids showed up at the table and it quickly became the most uproarious table in the cafeteria. Due mostly to Luz getting too excited.

From the teacher’s table, Principal Bump watched in horror as all the school’s biggest property damage offenders gathered at a single table.

“By the titan they’re unionizing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I need to go ahead and say that we're basically fully canon divergent now. I love Agony of a Witch and Young Blood Old Souls but for the purposes of this story I'm not quite sure how to address them. So no more bothering about pesky canon.


	12. The Other First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dual Track Kids make their grand return to regular classes!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm way overdue on this, but I want to take a second to say thank you so much for all of the support! I never expected this thing to get any attention at all and frankly I'm a little overwhelmed! Thank you so much to all of you readers and commenters! And I'd like to give a special thanks to my dear friends impoogies and choco_mint for their unending love and support!

The remainder of the week passed without incident. The twins gradually found themselves spending more time with their newfound group of friends. They normally tried to give Luz and Amity some space so they mostly spent time with the Dual Track group.

Perhaps the most unexpected development was Ed joining Viney’s morning jog routine. It had started with an off-hand comment about wanting to get into better shape, but it didn’t take her long to convince him to join her. 

After the very first morning of jogging, Ed had categorized it as a hate crime. In spite of spending an entire day complaining about being sore and how he was certain Viney must hate him for trying to kill him like that, he still joined her the next morning. 

Jealousy managed to compel Emira to join them one morning, but she didn’t even make it halfway through before she gave up. She would settle for seeing Viney’s absolutely glowing form after the fact when she came by to scrape Ed up off the floor.

Viney truly appreciated Ed’s company in the mornings. She had no problem going it alone, but boy did it make things easier to have someone to talk to.

“You know, after that first day I didn’t think you’d be joining me again. I’m proud of you, Blight.” she always had to slow down in order to chat with him, which he appreciated more than he’d ever have the breath to vocalize.

“I’m… full… of… surprises!” He managed to huff out between deep pants and gasps for air.

“I’ve noticed! Both of you just keep shocking me. I really feel bad for buying into all the rumors about you two. I really thought I had you two figured out, but I’m not sure I could’ve been more wrong.” She smiled at Edric as he huffed and puffed.

“If we’re… gonna… talk… I need… to stop!” It hadn’t taken Ed long to tire of wheezing out words and it hadn’t taken the author long to tire of ellipses.

Viney was about to suggest that they just chat at the end of the jog, but she realized that Emira would probably be there waiting for them. If she wanted one on one time with Edric, these early mornings were probably her only chance. She’d discovered that the twins were difficult to separate once they were together and she definitely wanted to talk to him in private.

“Sure, there’s a bench just up ahead. I’ve got some water if you need it.” She eagerly led the charge forward to the rest stop. While she waited for him to catch up she went ahead and fished a water bottle out of her bag. As soon as he plopped down onto the bench, she handed him the bottle which he proceeded to drink all of in one go.

“How are you not even a little tired?” Once he was done with his water and caught his breath a bit, he launched straight into accusing Viney. “I’m over here gasping for air and you sound fine!”

“I’ve been doing this for a long time. It gets easier the more you do it. I mean you’re already doing better than you were when you started!” She gave him a pat on the back, which he comically overreacted to.

“I guess so. It doesn’t really feel like it.” Ed deeply wished he had more water or that he hadn’t drank the whole thing in one go. He stared at it for a moment before looking to Viney. “I guess I should say thanks.”

She gave a quick laugh, “I should be thanking you! It’s been great having company out here. The others all refuse to join me. They say its too much too early.”

Ed looked oddly serious, “I don’t mean for this. I mean, thank you for this too, but…” He took a moment to collect his thoughts, “Its just… You were the one who called out for us back at Grom. If you hadn’t done that I’m not so sure we’d have ended up here.”

Viney was surprised to see Edric in thought like this. He was normally so cheery and goofy and… not introspective.

“It’s not like I did it with the plan to make friends with the Blights. We were just the only people there and it looked like you two weren’t having a very good time. I had to say something. It was just an off the cuff decision, definitely not something you need to thank me for.” Viney had recalled that night plenty of times by now. It felt like it was something so important to be a decision she’d made so casually.

“Well I’m going to thank you for it and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” He stuck his tongue out at her and huffed indignantly.

“Well its not like we exactly had a ton of friends either. So, I’d say it worked out for everybody. It’s only been like a week or so, but we’re already starting to fall into a routine. It’s not easy to make friends like that.” Viney kicked her legs back and forth as she thought about the time spent with the Blights. It felt like she’d known them so much longer.

“It’s already been a week? It's only felt like a day or two. Oh, wait! That means you guys are rejoining regular classes, right? Doesn’t that start today?” 

Viney smirked. Jerbo must’ve told him. “Yeah, we go back to regular classes today. It’ll be a relief from being cooped up in the temp classes. But we’ll probably have even more eyes on us than usual. I know Jerbo’s nervous about it. Getting too much attention freaks him out.”

“Yeah, I’ve kinda figured that out. I’ve been trying to help him get a bit more confident. He’s really something special and I want him to feel like it.” Ed stared at the empty water bottle as he spoke, as if it held some sort of answer.

“I know, he’s told me all about it. You’re like his number one cheerleader.” She smiled and laughed. Jerbo almost always came scrambling up to catch her up to speed with all of it. She’d spent so many afternoons listening to him recount what Ed had said or done this time. It almost felt routine.

“Aww, he talks about me.” Ed was trying to act like he was only a little happy to hear that instead of very, very happy to hear it.

“He’s been known to mention you from time to time. That reminds me. I’m guessing you’re the one who taught him how to make those little flower illusions?” She already knew the answer to this question, but it was the best segway she could think of to move the conversation where she wanted.

“Oh, uh yeah. I mean I just helped him make a basic illusion. The flower part was all him. That reminds me, we haven’t done any illusions stuff in a bit. I’m supposed to be helping him figure it out.” Edric hadn’t even really noticed that their time spent hanging out had largely dropped the pretense of teaching Jerbo illusions.

“You must be one heck of a teacher. Jerbo was always terrible at illusions. I think it might have been the one he was the worst at. Oh no wait it was definitely construction. That boy is not cut out for the Construction Track.”

Ed laughed at the thought of Jerbo trying to keep up with a construction crew. “I shouldn’t laugh. It’s not like I’d do any better.”

“I don’t know how to tell you this, but you would be so much worse at it and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I would pay good money to watch you try your luck at it.” She was grinning from ear to ear at the mere thought.

“Ouch! You wound me!” Edric pretended to be stabbed by an invisible dagger. “Wait, how much money?”

Viney just laughed at him until he threw the empty water bottle at her. It bounced off harmlessly, but she still gave him a stern look nonetheless. After a long silence her expression softened and she spoke up. “You know, he makes that illusion all the time.”

“Does he? I feel like I’ve only seen him making it that first time.” Ed decided to omit the part about seeing Jerbo’s room filled up with them. And it technically wasn’t a lie. He hadn’t actually seen Jerbo making them.

“I think its become something he does to calm himself down when he starts getting too anxious.” She was getting closer and closer to what she wanted to talk to Edric privately about.

“Aw, that’s sweet. I’m glad I helped in a weird indirect way.” Edric was beaming with pride at the thought that he’d actually done something good for someone.

“I’d say it's pretty direct.” She was beginning to get impatient with him. This was a delicate conversation, which was not really her strong point to begin with, and Ed was either oblivious or deflecting.

“Not really. I just helped him get started. I don’t know what the flower thing is but it has to be pretty important to him for it to be that clear.” Ed had been meaning to ask what the significance of the bulb was but he’d always been afraid that that would be prying too much, so he just didn’t ask.

“It’s you, you ding dong!” She was frustrated and couldn’t stand any more of this beating around the bush. “The flower doesn’t calm him down, it's you! It's his connection to you. He told me all about your time together at Grom.”

Ed was now in full avoid eye contact mode. He attempted to start three different sentences, but all of them fizzled out in just a word or two.

“If you want my honest opinion, I don’t think he has even the slightest interest in learning Illusions. He wants to spend time with you, but he’s the kind of person who has to come up with some reason or some excuse. Like he’s afraid that if there’s not a reason for you to hang around him, you’ll leave.” This conversation really hadn’t gone the way she’d planned. In her head it was just a simple matter of making sure Ed wasn’t going to hurt Jerbo in the long run. Just a quick couple sentences then they get back to their jog.

“Is there any way I can let him know that I’m not going anywhere?” 

Edric finally stopped avoiding Viney’s gaze and when he did she thought he was about to start crying. It really caught her off-guard. The Blights always do.

“You need to talk to him. Just the two of you and just, I don’t know, be honest with him.”

Ed just let out a long, loud sigh. Viney was very impressed that he could go that long without having to stop and inhale. As he was running out of breath he slumped over and slid down on the bench. “Being honest is scary.”

“What are you scared of? It’s just Jerbo.” She found it hard to take him too seriously while he was deflated like this.

“I guess I’m just scared of the same thing he is. That being honest will chase him away.” He hadn’t bothered to sit up or look less absurd in any way.

“Like I said, it’s just Jerbo. I don’t think being honest will chase him anywhere. He really likes you, you know?” It was weird to have this whole conversation without directly saying what they were both thinking. 

If there had been any doubt in Viney’s mind about how Edric felt, it was wiped away when the last comment made him light up red and quickly try to look away. 

“It doesn’t get any easier if you wait longer, you know.” She could tell that he was troubled by all of this, but it wouldn’t do him any good to tell him anything but the truth.

“I know. It only gets harder for both of us the more it gets dragged out and I promise I don’t want to hurt him.” He tried to offer a smile or a grin or something to Viney, but it didn’t seem to manifest as he just continued to look forlorn and frustrated.

“You’d better not. If you hurt him, you’ll have to deal with me and I don’t think you’re ready for that.”

“Oh they’d have to peel what’s left of me off the wall.” He faked a grimace and started to sit back up properly.

“Aw, it's adorable that you think there would be anything left of you.” She gave him a consoling pat on the back with her best innocent smile on her face.

“That’s a little scary. I’m not going to do it today because it’s you guys’ first day back to classes. I don’t want to make it about me. Besides if more people than usual are watching then he’ll probably be a little on edge. If I can’t find a chance to do it tomorrow then I promise that it’ll happen before the end of the week so please try to spare me until then.” Ed gave her his best puppy dog stare.

“I’ll hold you to that, Blight. Now, we should probably get back to our jog. We’re running a little behind schedule.” Viney quickly hopped up off the bench and stretched her arms impatiently.

“Wait hang on. I want to ask you something. I’m not sure when we would have a private moment again. Can we take just another minute?”

Viney felt like it was only fair to let Edric ask his own question so she sat back down. “Yeah sure. What’s up?”

“This is kind of a weird follow up to what we were just talking about. What did you and Em get up to at Grom? I was distracted so I didn’t pay you two any mind and if I’m being honest I don’t believe a word of her retelling of the night.” He had something of a smirk on his face as he thought about his sister’s version of the fabulous night.

Viney had the most grim and horrified look on her face. “What did she tell you?”

Edric suddenly felt like he was in danger. Viney’s threats from a moment ago suddenly felt less like she was joking with the way she was glaring at him. “Uh I can’t tell you that. It’s private. I just wanted to fact check, that’s all.”

She let out a frustrated groan. “It was embarrassing. I did nothing but embarrass myself the whole night.”

“Even more embarrassing than Em barely being able to form a sentence?” Ed tried to hold back laughter because there was no easy way to let her know that he would’ve been laughing at Emira and not her.

“Yes! For starters I drug her out onto the dance floor and I have no clue how to dance. I had to have her lead.” Viney’s face was already starting to burn as she recalled that night. She really had enjoyed the fateful meeting, but she’d also love a chance to do better. To really impress Em.

“Oh well Em’s had plenty of dance lessons. But its all formal dance junk. Probably not your style.” The thought of Emira’s stiff and measured dance movements hardly sounded like the ‘magical dance’ that she’d described but who was he to judge?

“Not exactly. I’m not gonna tell you every single detail of our conversation because I was starstruck and I just said a bunch of dumb stuff.”

Ed couldn’t stop himself from letting out a quick laugh. “You? Starstruck? And over Em?”

“Hey maybe you’re used to being around her, but for the rest of us its different. She’s like… THE Emira Blight. Of course I was nervous.” She shoved him a bit as she defended herself. Not enough to knock him off the bench, just enough to get her point across. 

Ed suddenly looked serious, “Wait am I not THE Edric Blight? Were you nervous around me?”

“Ha! No, by the time I really talked to you I’d already heard plenty from Jerbo so you were already promoted to just Ed.” She was quickly finding herself disgusted with how right Jerbo had been. It was gross how easy Edric was to talk to.

“I can live with that. So did anything else exciting happen or did you two just have an awkward dance?”

Viney just looked exhausted. “She fell and I was pretty sure she sprained her foot.”

And that pushed Edric over the edge, now laughing hysterically. Everything he heard from Viney was a beautiful contradiction of Em’s version of the story.

“Don’t laugh! She could’ve been hurt!” Now she actually pushed him off of the bench. Luckily it was still early enough that no one else was around to see her shove one of the Blights onto the ground.

Once his laughter died down Ed pulled himself back up to the bench and wiped away tears. “Oh if only there was someone who was trained in Healing magic there with her! So what are you embarrassed about? You weren’t the one who took ‘Break a leg’ as life advice.”

“Some of the stuff I said was embarrassing, okay? Just stupid stuff because I was nervous and… and I wanted her to like me.” She felt that burning in her cheeks again. Why was she talking about this out loud? And why to Emira’s brother of all people?

“Aw, that’s sweet. I won’t lie, I’m curious about what you said that was so embarrassing, but I won’t push it. I promise that nothing you’ve said here will leave this bench. Anyways I’m sure you’re just overthinking it. I mean Em’s still hanging around, right?” He tried to offer a consoling smile. It was weird to see the ever confident Viney displaying anything resembling vulnerability.

Ed’s words helped. He was right, Emira was still hanging around! “You’re right. It’s not that big of a deal. I can just get in my own head over stuff like this.”

Edric quickly sported his signature smug grin. The one that always meant trouble. “Sounds to me like the real problem is that she’s gotten into your head.”

Viney was red but she refused to become a stuttering mess. That was Em’s job. Her cute, cute job.

“Shut up. These things are complicated. She’s just… ugh maybe she’s in my head a little.”

Ed couldn’t look any more smug if he tried. It was time to throw Viney’s own words back in her face. “It doesn’t get any easier if you wait longer, you know.”

“You are unbearable.” She was tempted to shove him off the bench again but instead opted to just stand up. “But you’re right. I guess I need to have a chat of my own with Em. Now, you better get ready because I’m going to work you twice as hard for the rest of this run to make up for the lost time. That’s right, I said run, not jog.”

“Are you sure you can’t just feed me to your griffin or something easier?”

=======

The Dual Track students’ first day back in classes was a hectic blur for them. The near constant flood of people asking countless questions about dual tracking was a far cry from the isolation of the temp classes. With so many people watching them they were never given a chance to sneak away to the secret room of shortcuts for a moment’s peace.

Worse yet, with their classes scattering them around the campus they couldn’t even be there to help each other against the flood of students. Viney briefly saw Luz trying to fight against the crowd to come speak to her, but she wasn’t able to make it all the way through them. The day flew by and they were barely able to pay any attention to their classes, but they knew the first day would be like this.

Once classes were finally over they were able to find some peace and quiet. Several people stayed late to keep asking questions but eventually even those people disappeared. The instant they were alone the three of them darted to their secret sanctuary.

“This has been such a long day.” Viney finally huffed out once she was properly reunited with her friends. She wasn’t sure she’d ever been this happy to see them. “How are you guys holding up?”

“I’ve only had three breakdowns today! I like to think that’s pretty good.” Jerbo looked shaky and pale but seemed weirdly optimistic.

“I showed considerable restraint by not clawing or biting anyone. Frankly, I’m a saint.” Barcus growled.

“I really hope people go back to being uninterested in us soon. It’s only been one day and I’m already over this. I thought the attention would be at least fun for one day.” Viney slumped over against the wall next to Barcus and gave him some well deserved pats.

The entrance from the Detention room opened up which could only be Luz. Sure enough the human bounded into the main chamber excitedly. “It was so cool to see you guys out in the halls! I mean I couldn’t get close to any of you, but it was still neat. I just wish I’d had classes with at least one of you, but today was Bard Track stuff.”

“It was good to see you too, Luz. Where are you at tomorrow? Maybe we’ll get to hang out then.” Viney smiled at Luz’s infectious energy giving the trio a much needed jolt.

“I think tomorrow is Abominations. Or wait maybe its Oracle? I have it written down at the Owl House.” Luz was really racking her brain trying to remember which classes she had tomorrow. Suddenly she snapped out of it with a look of panic. “That’s not important. What is important is that Ed and Em are here.”

Viney snapped upright. “You brought them here?!”

“No, no no no. I didn’t bring them here. They’re waiting out in front of the school. I told them I’d try to find you guys because they were looking for you. If you want to be alone I can just say I couldn’t find you.” Luz was quick to dispel the idea that she’d violated their trust. She would never lead someone here without asking them first.

“We only just got time to ourselves…” Barcus whined. Viney and Jerbo exchanged nervous glances. They’d both love to see the twins, especially after a day like today, but Barcus was right. It had been ages since it was just the three of them. 

“I guess that whine means no?” Luz couldn’t exactly understand Barcus, but some things were self-explanatory.

Viney nodded. “Yeah. We haven’t had time for just the three of us in what feels like forever. Maybe next time though.”

“It’s cool! I’ll just tell them you were nowhere to be found. I know its been a weird day, so I hope you guys get some peace and quiet.” Luz gave them a smile and a wave before she headed back out. 

The room went back to being quiet and still as soon as Luz left. The silence was more awkward than before.

“You didn’t have to say no just for me.” Barcus finally growled. He seemed irritated, whether it was at himself or at them was anyone’s guess.

“You’re right though. We’ve been hanging with them basically since we met them.” Jerbo tried to offer up a smile to Barcus. Hanging out with Ed shouldn’t mean neglecting his other friends.

“You know, this is kinda our day. We shouldn’t just be moping around in here.” Viney gave Barcus one last scratch before standing up. “We should do something to celebrate! We really did it you guys! We’ve wanted to study what we wanted without being afraid for so long and here we are!”

Jerbo seemed to perk up a bit. “You’re right! Getting these two color uniforms wasn’t easy.”

Barcus’ spirits also seemed to lift. “What should we do to celebrate?”

“Let’s go out and get some food! I couldn’t really eat much at lunch, so I’m starving! Does that sound good to everyone?” Viney looked around excitedly. She really was hungry, so she was hoping there was no opposition to the plan.

“Oh man. I didn’t even realize. I haven’t eaten all day.” Jerbo looked like it was just dawning on him. Suddenly his being pale and shaky made a lot more sense.

“I guess that settles our plans then.” Barcus sniffled. 

Viney looked at Jerbo with worry. Some days he just was not capable of taking care of himself. “Cool. I’m gonna go get changed out of my uniform. You two should probably do the same.”

Once they nodded she went up the room’s spiral staircase looking for the door that led to the girl’s locker room. If she was being honest she wished desperately that they could just go out and about in their uniforms but she knew the rules. Even if Bump was allowing them to study two tracks, it was all supposed to be a big secret for now. Mixing magic simply wasn’t allowed.

The implications of all of this were too heavy for her to bother unpacking now. Now was the time to get changed and go get food.

She rejoined the others after getting ready and they started making plans. No one could decide on a place to eat, so they agreed to do some wandering around Bonesborough. The town was full of hole in the wall places to get good, cheap food. The only issue now was getting there. It was a pretty long walk and she really didn’t want to make Jerbo go that far if he really hadn’t eaten anything. 

The obvious answer was to call in Puddles. There was a nagging fear in the back of her head that being in the air like that would make it easy for Emira to spot them leaving the school. Ed too, she guessed. She quickly deemed it less important than getting her friends to some food.

They snuck away through a shortcut door that led out behind the school and Viney quickly spun the spell circle to call on Puddles. All they had to do now was wait for her to arrive. They whiled away the time with chatter about their return to classes. 

Barcus spent a while complaining about a three-eyed girl in his Potions class that glared at him the whole time. “She’s the sort that could spend hours talking and still say nothing. Plus, her aura is foul.” he growled.

Viney seemed to be thinking about it for a moment. “Did she have red hair?”

Barcus simply stared at her for a moment, clearly trying to decide what words to use. “You know I can’t see colors like you. So… maybe?”

“Oh right. Sorry! I keep forgetting! Either way that was probably Boscha. She’s the star captain of the Grudgby team. You be careful around that one.” Viney was a little frustrated with herself for forgetting about Barcus not being able to see the same colors as most people, but its not like it was something that came up often.

“Yeah once Grudgby season starts I’m told she can just do whatever she wants. And that’s soon.” Jerbo had heard plenty of stories about the terror that was Grudgby Season Boscha and how all the teachers would look the other way no matter what she did.

“Maybe I should do a reading and see if anything happens to her precious throwing arm. You never know what could happen.”

“Barcus, no.” Both Jerbo and Viney scolded him at once which earned a smug grin from their canine companion.

When Puddles arrived Jerbo was in the process of talking about how excited he was to spend time in the Plant Track with Willow, after all she was previously in Abominations and had since moved to Plants making her perhaps the only person with experience in both of his tracks.

Viney set about, first and foremost, giving Puddles hugs and scratches. Once that process was finished, (This is a lie. Viney is never finished giving Puddles hugs and scratches.) she set about setting up a special carrier that would basically strap Barcus to the Griffin’s side since it was almost impossible for him to cling to her back without getting claws involved.

Once everyone was secured in they took off in the sky towards Bonesborough. Viney couldn’t stop herself from scanning the area around the school’s entrance wondering if the twins would be visible. There was no trace of them. Either they had gone home or headed somewhere with Luz. She’d been giving a lot of thought to her conversation with Edric earlier. She had to figure out what to say to Emira and when.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My original plan for this chapter was for it to end with the Twins helping the Dual Track kids relax after such a long and stressful day but then we got to that part of the chapter and they just.... said no. It felt like them wanting some time for just themselves was perfectly reasonable but dang it I had plans.


	13. The Other First Day, B Side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More fun times with Luz in the Owl House!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so bad at chapter titles and summaries. Please forgive me.

The Blight Twins stood impatiently outside of the school waiting for Luz to return. She’d told them that she knew where the Dual Track crew would be on the condition that they waited outside. Emira was pretending to check something on her scroll while Edric sat down on the front step and looked around at the school grounds, his head tilting back to see if Luz had returned every so often.

Neither of them had been given a chance to see their friends since the very early morning and they were getting impatient. But the time away had given them a chance to come up with a way to celebrate their friends’ triumphant return to classes. A big dinner party at a decently fancy place in town. All on the Blight account, of course.

It felt like they had been waiting for ages and still no sign of Luz. Edric got up and walked over to the nearest window and pressed his face against it as though that would help him see inside any better. The view only showed him an empty classroom which clearly didn’t have Luz in it.

Emira was about to scold him for pressing his face against the glass like that when the door finally opened. Luz greeted them but her usual smile wasn’t present. Something was wrong.

“Sorry, I couldn’t find them. I looked everywhere too.” Luz was glancing around as she spoke and trying to avoid eye contact.

“You’re a terrible liar.” Em immediately called her out.

Ed grinned and walked back over to the steps. “Yeah when you’re telling the truth its more like this.”

He quickly cast a circle and an illusion of Luz appeared in front of him, her eyes gleaming and a smile on her face.

“I couldn’t find them anywhere! Come help me look for them, they could be in trouble! We’ll start by causing as much property damage as possible!” The Illusion jumped up and down excitedly as she spoke.

Luz stared at the illusion of herself then at Edric before he dispelled it. “I don’t sound like that.”

“You sound a bit like that. So, what’s the deal?” Emira leaned in close to Luz to try and put some pressure on the human.

Luz quickly backed away from Em, nearly falling down the stairs in the process. She knew Emira definitely wanted to see Viney and Ed always seemed excited to see Jerbo, but her friends deserved their time to themselves. But she didn’t want the twins to think they were avoiding them.

“The deal is that I couldn’t find them. They probably already left. That’s all. Honest.” She tried to stare the twins down this time. She really hoped that they wouldn’t push the matter any further because she wasn’t sure she could be any more convincing than this.

Both of them let out a sigh. Emira huffed, “Sorry for getting pushy.”

“Whoa, an apology from Em. I hope you have a glyph for recording stuff because you won’t hear that again.” Ed elbowed Luz as he teased.

“Hey just because I don’t apologize to you doesn’t mean I can’t do it.” Emira walked down the stairs and pulled Luz to her side and away from Ed. “So Luz, got any plans for the afternoon?”

“I was just going to head back to the Owl House and do some studying for a bit. After that I can probably find something fun to do.” Luz smiled and pulled herself out of Em’s grasp.

“We could help you study! We’ve got a bit before we have to be back home.” Ed smiled happily as he offered to help. He knew perfectly well that between the three of them not even a moment of studying would get done, but hey it was time for Luz to learn what a lie really looked like. 

“That could be fun! Oh, but no illusions this time!” Luz did her best to make a stern face as she enforced this rule.

“Yes ma’am…” The twins both called out dejectedly, which seemed to break Luz’s facade.

As they headed to the Owl House Luz was more than happy to tell the twins all about her day. She’d spent it in Bard classes and was surprised to find that it was more than just lutes and harps. She also went on about a new friend she’d made named Skara who apparently Amity knew. That worried Emira because Amity’s friend group tended to be… troublesome.

At one point in their journey something compelled Emira to look upwards. She didn’t really know what it was that made her look but through the gaps in the leaves above she saw a Griffin fly past. The thought of one day getting to take Viney up on that offer for a ride made her smile. 

Then she realized that the Griffin’s path looked like it was headed straight towards Hexside. That wasn’t Puddles, was it? No, that could be anyone’s Griffin that was headed towards the school that she never saw Viney walk out of.

With her eyes glued on the skies above Em failed to notice the tree she walked directly into. Luz helped pull her up while Ed laughed. “Are you alright? That was a pretty solid hit.”

“Yeah I’m fine. Wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I’m doing much better than he’s going to be if he doesn’t shut up.” She pointed at Ed who quickly put a hand over his mouth, but could still be heard snickering.

“If I walked into a tree like that my nose would be a bloody mess. Witches are tough! I don’t think I’ve even seen a witch bleed before. Well Eda got her head cut off one time, but I don’t think she bled. I’ve been meaning to ask. Is that normal for witches?” Ever since she first arrived in the Boiling Isles Luz had been wondering how much of what she’d seen Eda do was normal witch stuff and how much was… Eda.

“I’m not dignifying that with a response.” Emira said as she pulled ahead of the group. The Owl House was in sight now so she didn’t need Luz to lead the way.

Luz turned to Ed for an answer, eyes pleading. He laughed and put his hand on her back as he pushed her forward. “Yeah, Luz. My head gets cut off every other day.”

“Wait, really?” Luz seemed completely willing to believe in the mental image of Ed’s severed head casually chatting with Emira. Luz’s reaction got another hearty laugh out of Ed as they approached the front door of the Owl House where Hooty was invading Em’s personal space.

“And then I said ‘Hey! I’m hootin’ here!’ and she said-”

“Help! Luz! Please!” Emira was doing her best to keep Hooty at arms length, but she seemed to be failing. “Ugh, why is he slimy too?”

“Hooty! Personal space!” Luz called as she ran towards them.

“I’m staying out of your personal space just like you said!” Hooty turned to face Luz, but kept pushing closer to Emira with the parts of his body that stayed in contact with her hands.

“Personal space isn’t just for me! Everybody gets personal space!” The human wrapped her arms around Hooty and tried to pull him away from Emira. After a moment to process what Luz said, Hooty backed away from Emira which caused Luz to get drug along with him for a second before she let go.

“Geez, everybody? That’s complicated, hoot! How am I supposed to remember that?” Hooty seemed agitated by this as he retreated fully back into the door.

Luz picked herself up off the ground and wiped her hands off on her shirt, which Emira found completely disgusting. She opened the door and motioned for the others to go ahead inside.

“I need to wash my hands and maybe, like, my soul.” Emira complained as she walked inside with Edric shortly behind. 

As soon as they were inside their noses were hit with the unmistakable odor of potions being brewed. The colored smoke and fog pouring out of the kitchen made an easy origin point.

“Oh yeah Eda runs a potions business so the house is just kinda full of smoke sometimes. Let’s go say hey and get you to the sink.” Luz closed the door and led the charge into the smoke filled kitchen. “Hey Eda! I brought some friends home with me!” 

The fog was so dense that they could barely see anything in the kitchen. They heard the sound of a spell circle and all of the fog was sucked into a small ball in the Owl Lady’s hands. She quickly put a lid on the massive pot in front of her to keep more from pouring out.

Once they could see Luz showed Em the sink so she could wash her hands. Edric decided to greet the Owl Lady who was covered in various potion stains. “Hello there Miss Eda! I hope you’re-”

She cut him off by pointing the still dripping spoon in his face. “Okay ground rule. If you call me Miss Eda again I will personally rearrange all of your bones in alphabetical order.”

“So, just Eda then?” He nervously asked as he took a step backwards. There was no threat that felt too absurd in the presence of the Owl Lady.

“They’re gonna help me study!” Luz suddenly called out as if to explain why the twins were here.

“Didn’t you almost get killed the last time one of them helped you study?” Eda crossed her arms and grinned at Luz as though she couldn’t decide between being stern and laughing with her.

“Almost doesn’t count! Besides we agreed on no illusions this time, so we should all be safe and sound.” Luz emphasized the phrase ‘safe and sound’ by smacking her hand on the countertop, which happened to knock over a stack of pans onto Emira and herself.

“Well, I’m convinced. You kids have fun and try not to get killed. I’ll be down here if anyone needs me. I’ll be stirring potions for the next…” Eda leaned over to get a better look at the clock before letting out an exasperated sigh. “...Three hours.”

Luz led the twins upstairs to her little hideaway. She’d brought Emira up here before but it would be Edric’s first time. When she opened the door she saw King rifling through her bag. She gasped and quickly ran over to pull him out.

“King! We talked about this. No digging through my bag. I’ve got private stuff in there.” She tried her best to scold him but she had so much trouble being mad at that little face.

“You don’t understand! I was desperate! I need to find something to get this awful potion smell out of my nose!” He clung to Luz tightly as if to emphasize the agony of his struggle before noticing the guests in the room. “Oh hey you finally got minions. I’m proud of you.”

“They are not minions, they are my friends.” Luz snuggled against King before setting him down. He quickly scurried over to the twins and sized them up.

“Well if they’re not your minions, then they can be my minions!” The little skull-faced demon seemed delighted at this idea.

The demon’s cuteness charm was clearly working wonders on Ed who looked like he was just seconds away from squealing. Em, however, was not as easily won over. “I don’t guess we actually have any say in this, do we?”

Luz was about to speak when King began to yell over her. “Long Hair Minion you don’t speak to your superior officer in that tone unless I give you permission first! However when I do finally give you permission you are to burn her down with your words!”

“Okay I am not enabling this. My name is not Long Hair Minion. I am Emira Blight and…” Emira continued on as King turned his attention to Ed.

“Short Hair Minion, I order you to silence Long Hair Minion!” 

Edric smiled and slapped his hand over her mouth. After a moment he yelled and pulled his hand back. “Don’t bite, you monster!”

“Okay I can already see where this is going.” Luz stood up and walked over to King, lifting him up and placing him where she could speak to him at eye level. “King, Ed and Em are here to help me out. Can we get some time alone in here? Please?”

King seemed to think about it for a moment before agreeing. “Fine. There’s nothing in here to help me with the potion smell anyways. My search continues! Now, minions! Your King departs! Feel free to sow anarchy and ruin in my absence!”

King hopped down and made a dramatic show of leaving the room as Luz just rolled her eyes. Once he was gone Luz began to clean up the stuff that had been tossed out of her bag. She suddenly seemed panicked as she looked around inside and then let out a sigh of relief. She pulled out the brightly colored paper she had shown Emira last time. Seems like she had been worried something had happened to it.

“Hey Ed, I have a quick question.” She said as she handed him the note. Thanks to his conversation with Emira, he knew exactly what this was and what her question would be.

He took it and looked it over. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“This is kind of a long shot and I already asked Em, but do you know who Amity wanted to ask to Grom?” Ed looked over at Em then back to Luz. He imagined that Emira had a similar panic process regarding what to do or say.

“Ha! If you think Mittens would talk to us about something like that, then I don’t know what to tell you.” He handed it back to her with a smile. Trying to laugh it off was the best he could think to do.

Luz smiled back as she put the note away in her bag, making sure it was safe. “I didn’t think so. I just thought if she didn’t tell Em, maybe she’d have told you? I mean you guys seem a lot closer these days.”

Ed and Em looked at each other and then back to Luz. “What do you mean by that?”

“I just mean that when I first met you guys, back at the library, it was honestly kind of a bad first impression. Amity seemed so hurt by the diary thing and you two seemed so cold and cruel. Like you didn’t care if she was hurt or not. I kinda didn’t really like you guys for a bit after that.” The human seemed embarrassed recalling their first encounter and the bad taste it had left in her mouth.

Ed sat down on the floor with Luz and after a moment Em joined him. She tried to start talking, but quickly stopped. Ed finally spoke once it seemed like Emira had given up. “You were basically right.” 

Emira glared at him. She had been hoping he would have something more gentle and less incriminating to tell Luz. “But we’re not like that anymore! Things changed!” She had no particular desire to dwell on their past mistakes. She does that plenty in her free time.

Luz just smiled, “Yeah, I know. It’s pretty clear that you’re closer now than you were then. I’d ask what happened to cause a change that big, but I imagine its pretty personal. But also I’m super curious, so what happened?”

“That is a long story that we can’t tell you yet. But I can distract you with something juicier.” Emira put on her best smug look and leaned in close to Luz. “I think you said the word was gay? Anyways, Ed’s gay.”

Luz’s eyes went wide. Ed’s reaction was less favorable. “I don’t know what that means.”

“It means you like guys.” Emira said plainly.

“Oh.” Ed said, glancing at Em then back to the still wide-eyed and strangely silent Luz. “Yeah that’s me then.”

Luz let out a sigh of relief and then she looked upset at Emira. “You can’t just spring something like that on someone! What if he wasn’t ready to tell me?”

Emira just looked at Edric. “Ed, were you ready to tell her?”

“Yeah, I guess. It was probably gonna come up sooner or later.” He seemed very relaxed about the whole thing.

“See? We’re all good.” Emira kicked back happily.

“If you say so. But, that’s awesome, Ed! Wow, both of the twins, huh?” She readjusted her sitting position and looked back and forth between them. She then stared at Ed and seemed to be thinking about something. 

After letting her stare for a second Emira laughed. “Putting your romance expertise to the test? Because I can just tell you who he’s into.”

“No, I can figure it out! I just haven’t spent as much time around Ed.” Luz kept her eyes focused on Ed and her mind was clearly racing.

Ed just looked kind of confused. “If you decide you want my input, just let me know. I think I might know who he likes.”

“I can do it!” Luz leaned forward and squinted. “Is it someone I know? Because if its someone I know, then I think I know who it is. But if its someone I don’t know then I definitely don’t know.”

“So you’re saying that if you know, then you know but you know that if you don’t know then you don’t know?” Ed had entirely too wide of a grin on his face as he spoke.

“I hate that I followed that.” Luz groaned, her focus destroyed. “Let me just get one guess in then you can tell me. I really wish I had been paying more attention.”

“You’re enjoying yourself too much. Both of you.” Emira chuckled at Luz being herself and Ed being himself.

“Okay, okay. If it’s someone I know, then its gotta be Jerbo. You’re always together, plus when you’re around him you’re either way quieter than normal or way louder than normal. I hadn’t really given it any thought before now, but it makes sense.” Luz confidently gave her analysis, even citing sources.

“She’s got you there.” Emira giggled and prodded at Ed, who seemed grumpy at how easily Luz had gotten it.

“Is he the only one who doesn’t know at this point?” Edric pouted.

Upon hearing the confirmation Edric was treated to the same display of excited yelling and bouncing that Emira had seen the other day. Afterwards Luz flopped over and eventually pulled herself up, looking on the verge of tears. “Such a cute sibling bond…”

“Gross.” The twins both said simultaneously and completely deadpan.

“Oh my gosh are you guys gonna double date?” Studying couldn’t be further from Luz’s mind at this point.

“Absolutely not. If you think I want to spend even three seconds watching Ed make mushy faces at the world’s most anxious beanpole, then I can’t help you.” Emira’s face was scrunched up in disgust at the thought.

“Same goes for watching you forget how to breathe because Viney chuckled at something dumb you said.” Edric scoffed and looked the other way.

“Okay, okay! Forget I said anything! So, have you guys, like, talked to them about this at all?” Luz leaned forward, her hands idly bouncing against her leg.

“I will!” Ed called out nervously and suddenly. He’d given himself a deadline and to be honest he was a bit on edge about the subject. “I-I mean I haven’t, but I’m going to. I want to try to do it tomorrow, but I gave myself until the end of the week.”

Emira, who hadn’t heard anything about this plan of Edric’s, just stared at him in disbelief. She kind of assumed that he would dance around the subject as long as possible. In a way she was proud of him. He was starting to live his own life, even if just a bit. And in another way it lit a fire under her. “Me too! I’ll talk to her soon!”

The human was now unable to contain her excitement as she jumped up to her feet and began to pace around. “Okay, okay! If there’s anything I can do to help either of you out, just let me know! I know! I can distract Principal Bump! I’m very good at being distracting!”

The twins laughed as Luz yelled as if to prove her point. “You’ve certainly got a talent for it.” Em chimed in.

“Hopefully we won’t need to distract Bump. I’m not sure he’s really a factor in this.” Ed was still laughing at Luz’s display. She really was a sweetheart.

They heard the sound of someone running up the stairs full speed and then a moment later Eda opened the door, pretending like she hadn’t just sprinted here in a panic. “Okay, I heard yelling. Who lost what? I can probably reattach it.”

“Everyone is fine. Luz was just demonstrating how distracting she can be. Since it got you all the way up here, I have to say I’m very impressed with your services Miss The Human. Please give me your card.” Em grinned as the Owl Lady just looked at Luz with more than a slight hint of exhaustion.

Eda didn’t even bother to say anything else, just groaning loudly and turning to head back down the stairs. There was the sound of clatter coming from downstairs, prompting her to start running. “Dang it Hooty that is not for playing in! At least wait until its not boiling!”

“You know, I’d always kind of imagined that the Owl Lady would have more control over what goes on in here.” Ed remarked as he got up to close the door Eda left open.

“It’s kinda a crazy place. Eda’s not really big on trying to keep order here anyways. Everyone here gets to do sort of their own thing. You know, be themselves.” 

The twins couldn’t help but let out an exasperated sigh. It seemed like the Owl House was the total opposite of their own home in every way. The place was messy and disorganized but warm and lived-in. It was a place to express yourself and be free. Freedom. That word seemed to linger in their minds for a moment longer than the others.

Luz looked at the twins who had been lost in their thoughts for longer than they’d meant to be with a touch of sadness. “You know, I don’t actually know anything about your home lives. I’ve tried to ask Amity about what her house is like and what her parents are like, but she always tries to switch the topic. She probably thinks I haven’t noticed. I still remember some of the stuff I saw in her diary from back in the library. It sounds like you guys have a lot of expectations on your shoulders.”

Emira deeply wanted to switch the topic for a number of reasons. And she had a great plan to do so. But before she could put her plan into effect, Ed spoke up.

“Mittens does. They expect a lot out of her. Like a lot of a lot. They’re not as keen on us. We can’t tell you why right now. I know that’s a weak answer that just raises more questions and concerns, but I promise that one day we’ll tell you everything. Just not yet.” He wanted to be as honest as he could with her. He felt like telling her everything now would just complicate her relationship with Amity.

“You’re right, that does raise questions and concerns. But, whenever you’re ready to talk about it, just know this human has two ears and they’re both very good at listening.” Luz didn’t want to make any judgements out loud, but she was beginning to suspect that she didn’t like their parents very much.

“Alright, I know you just blasted Mittens for the same thing, but I’m going to change the topic if we’ve got that all wrapped up.” Em had a troublesome smirk on her face. It worried Ed a little bit, given the topic they were jumping from.

Luz giggled at Emira asking for permission to change topics. “Okay I’ll let it slide this once, but you’re on thin ice after this.”

“You’re so gracious, I’ll be sure to repay this debt.” She gave a dramatic bow and took a breath before speaking. “What would you say, Luz, if I told you that you have a secret admirer?”

The question took Ed by surprise. He considered that going way too far. They were trying not to force things between Amity and Luz and this was just… too obvious. He looked over at Luz who’s expression was… calm?

After a moment of silence suddenly Luz began laughing. “Then I’d tell you to stop messing with me.”

That was not the response either of the twins had been expecting. They had been expecting excited squeals or her bearing down on them demanding to know who or, well, anything but this.

Emira looked frustrated. “Okay then. Luz. I am telling you right now. You have a secret admirer.”

Luz, in turn, looked at Em more seriously than before as she sat back down on the floor, her excitement from earlier quickly bleeding out of her. “Okay I get it! You don’t want to talk about your home life. Just… this isn’t funny.”

And now Edric felt worry creeping in. It was one thing to assume the twins were goofing off. That would be honestly fair, but this? This seemed more serious than just Luz being wary of Em pulling a prank.

“Of course it's not funny. I’m being serious. I’m not messing with you, Luz.” Emira was now fully standing up with her hands on her hips with a look of concern on her face.

Luz was now more withdrawn into herself than they’d ever seen her. She was shrunk down onto the floor with her knees to her chest and her eyes glued to the ground. She mumbled a response, but neither of the twins could hear it.

“Hey, Em that’s enough.” He said as they moved over to sit next to Luz. Emira kept a bit further away, feeling responsible for this. “You know, its not fair to sit back and talk about how much other people can talk to you about anything and then not talk to anyone else. We’re your friends, Luz. You can talk to us, you know?”

Luz turned her head slightly towards Edric and then a moment later glanced at Emira who quickly mouthed a silent apology. She lifted her head and took a breath. “You’re right.” she spoke barely loud enough to be heard.

“We’re not going to make you, if you don’t want to.” Emira reached to put a hand on Luz’s shoulder, but quickly decided against it. Luz looked at her and smiled as she grabbed Em’s hand and placed it on her own shoulder.

“Back in the human world, I don’t have any friends.” She still kept her eyes towards the ground, only occasionally stealing glances at the twins. “Other than my mom, I don’t really have anyone. I’m… kind of a weirdo. Even if someone did think of me like that, even if someone did like me like that, it's just because they don’t know me yet. Once they get to know me better, they won’t stick around.”

The twins didn’t really know how to process what they’d just been told. Luz was no doubt always a ball of sunshine, but how much of that always smile attitude was learned so that people might stick around? No wonder she always surrounded herself with as many people as possible. And no wonder she hadn’t noticed Amity’s feelings. She didn’t even consider it a possibility.

“Anyone who doesn’t stick around you doesn’t know what they’re missing.” Ed gave the human his brightest smile.

“Yeah, it sounds like humans have pretty terrible taste. Besides, you’ve got plenty of friends here and we’re not going to let you forget it!” Emira squeezed Luz’s shoulder and punctuated her sentence with a wink. “And that includes us.”

Luz blushed a little at the attention and the kind words. “Thanks. I know its a weird thing to worry about.”

“Not even.” Edric had no plans on letting Luz beat herself up about being honest with her friends. “Now, we have managed to completely avoid doing any studying. We had planned to be as unhelpful as possible, but I think we should actually try to get something done.”

Emira confirmed the plan to be counter-productive by groaning loudly when Ed mentioned studying. “If we’re not allowed to use illusions its not like we can even help. We don’t know about any other tracks.”

Luz was already mostly back to her normal self once Em’s groaning made her laugh. “Well you guys have lived in the Boiling Isles your whole lives, so you probably know more about it than me by default. Let me check the schedule and see what’s tomorrow.”

The twins smiled as they watched Luz’s enthusiasm return to its normal levels with each passing moment. Hopefully their words had helped some. Luz excitedly announced that tomorrow’s classes were Abominations, which they might actually be able to help with some given their exposure to the subject through Amity and, more recently, Jerbo.

They spent the next couple hours trying to help Luz parse some long, boring texts about how to properly mix Abomination ingredients as well what to use and what not to use. They were in the middle of a discussion about the possibility of Luz using a glyph to summon an Abomination when they realized the time.

There was no way around the fact that they would be late returning to Blight Manor, so they said their goodbyes as quickly as they could and hurried outside. As they ran home, Ed found himself thanking Viney for their morning routine since he’d have collapsed in a heap long ago without it.

They ended up having to take a few breaks for Em’s sake. After a longer run than they’d realized, they arrived at the front door of their home.

Home. What a funny word for this place. Their afternoon at the Owl House had taught them something. What a home was supposed to look and feel like. This wasn’t a home.

Edric reached for the door handle with heavy breaths only to find it turn on its own as the door was opened from inside.

Standing in the doorway looking down at the twins was their father. His usual icy stare looked the exhausted pair up and down, his focus primarily on Ed.

“Welcome home.” His voice couldn’t have sounded less welcoming if he had been trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you thought we were getting out of this without talking about Luz Noceda's troubling self-worth issues, then you were wrong. Because we did. Talk about it, that is.
> 
> Also, I think we can all agree that things have been too good for too long.


	14. The Fork in the Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past catches up with Ed and Amity shares her concerns for the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I'm keeping track of where we are in regards to "the end of the week" but with all the POV chapters this might be a real long week.

“Your dinner has gotten cold, but there should be plenty left for you.” Alador pointed out some of the food that had been left at the table for the missing twins. Their seats had been, presumably deliberately, placed quite far apart.

Neither Edric nor Emira said anything as they went to pick up their plates to go reheat the food. Their father remained in the room, his eyes following their every movement. He even waited patiently for their return with warm food. Once they were sat down he turned towards his study.

“Edric. Once you’re done eating, I need to speak with you.” Wasting no further time he disappeared into the other room.

Once he was out of the room the twins quickly moved their seats next to each other.

“What did you do?” Emira asked between bites. Being greeted by their father had drained her appetite, but it hadn’t taken long to get it back.

“Is it weird that I have no idea?” Ed was trying his hardest to remember what he could’ve done to draw his Father’s ire. They hadn’t been caught skipping classes lately. The only unusual thing he could think of was the time they were spending with the Dual Track crew. Fear suddenly crept into his gut as he thought of that getting back to his parents.

“Do you think its....” He looked around nervously and then whispered so no one but Emira could hear. “Do you think its the time we’ve been spending with Viney and Jerbo?”

Emira also felt that same fear when Ed brought up the possibility. “I mean, maybe? But why would he call just you if that was it?”

“I guess you’re right. But we need to be more careful. They could really mess up their futures.”

Not much else was said between the two of them for the rest of the meal, each trying to figure out how to navigate this. Edric had the added pressure of knowing a conflict was in his near future.

Once they were done Emira stood up and thought about going with him, but didn’t want to cause any extra trouble. “Hey, I’ll be up in my room if you need me. Be careful, okay?”

Edric nodded and headed towards the study. He hadn’t seen his mother anywhere and he wasn’t sure he could deal with both of them alone. After spending a few minutes to steady himself, he finally opened the door and headed inside.

Alador was sat at his desk at the study’s far end, his reading glasses on as he poured over scrolls upon scrolls of some kind of documentation. Without looking up, he motioned for Edric to approach the desk.

As he walked, it seemed that it was just Edric and his father in the room. The thought didn’t bring him any comfort. Once he arrived, Ed was trying to find the words to start the conversation but before he could, Alador spoke first.

“I was reviewing family expense reports when I saw a curious purchase. Nearly a thousand snails spent at a single stall in the market. I spent nearly a week trying to figure out what that purchase could possibly be. I got my answer earlier today when I received a letter in the mail from the stall’s owner thanking the generous young Blight boy for covering damages to their stall. It also makes mention of you covering for some and I quote ‘bumbling fool of a boy’”

Edric stared in disbelief as he looked at the expense reports in question and the handwritten letter, which clearly had been written with no ill intent. Well maybe some ill intent towards Jerbo. 

“I can explain! Em and I-” he started in a panic.

“I’m sure you can.” Alador interrupted, pulling the letter and reports back from Edric. “I have several questions, but the first is what made you think this was acceptable? This is a matter of responsibility, which I have clearly failed to instill in you.”

It took a lot to make Edric Blight angry, but the insinuation that he should have been learning anything from his father made his blood boil. A million different criticisms of Alador’s parenting leapt to his mind at once, not that he had the courage to voice any of them. 

“I just wanted to help a friend out. That’s all. Seemed like the responsible thing to me.” He glared at his father with a sharpness almost never seen in Ed.

That glare clearly displeased him, but Alador did his best to hide it. After all, a Blight is always composed. “Responsibility is not covering for someone else’s mistakes. Now, I hope this ‘friend’ of yours is worth nearly a thousand snails to you, because you’ll be paying it back in full.”

“Sure, just charge it to the Blight account.” Edric said and immediately regretted it when his Father stood up from the chair suddenly, causing the chair to make a loud screech as it was abruptly moved.

“Watch your mouth. I won’t tolerate disrespect. You will be using money that you have earned on your own. It’s time you learned some iota of responsibility. You can find a job on your own, or…” His Father leaned in close, clearly intending the next part as a threat. “...Or I can find one for you.”

Ed took a step back. He had a million things he wanted to say to this man about responsibility and respect right now, but all that came out was a quiet, “Yes, sir.”

“Now that that’s settled, tell me about this friend. I’m curious about who you would go through all this for.” 

Ed’s hands balled into fists. He kept his eyes locked on his Father’s. “He’s a friend from school. No one for you to worry about.”

“Well, make sure this friend from school understands that they need to handle their own problems. And I need to make sure you understand how many eyes are on you at school. Edric, just because you’ve made choices I disagree with doesn’t mean we can’t be civil.” The Blight Father finally broke his glaring contest he seemed to be having with Edric.

Edric Blight wasn’t a violent person. He never was and never wanted to be, but in this moment he found himself disgusted with how gratifying the idea of slamming his fist into his father’s face was. As soon as the image flashed into his head he felt deeply ashamed and pushed it down.

“One final thing.” Alador sat back down at his desk and took a deep breath. “Your mother doesn’t know about this and you are not to tell her. I fear she would complicate this matter more than it needs to be. Believe it or not, I have no desire to see any of my children in the Conformitorium. Let’s just keep this simple.”

Not one word that his Father said had calmed Edric down in the slightest. He had never been able to forget seeing him screaming at Emira and forcing her back. He could never forget the certainty in his heart that he was going to hurt her. Platitudes like ‘I have no desire to see you in the Conformitorium’ only upset him more. He hated this man. He hated this man and he hated that he had any connection to him at all. 

He said nothing. If Edric Blight opened his mouth now, he would say something that would rain hell down on Emira and probably even Amity. So for their sakes he bit his tongue and silently turned around and left the study. He never even bothered to look back.

He headed upstairs and made the decision to head to his own room instead of Emira’s. No need to bring down her mood. Besides he was supposed to be learning not to depend on her so much.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Emira’s door swung open and she pulled him inside as he attempted to walk past.

Given his mood he was about to yell at her when he noticed Amity in the room too. And it didn’t look like they were in the middle of a girl’s night either, given that Amity had a stack of books with her.

“Looks like that little chat didn’t put you in a good mood.” Em snipped as she bounced over onto her bed. 

“That’s one way to put it. We can talk about that later, it's not that important. What’s up, Mittens?” Ed was, as always, quick to put himself and his concerns to the side.

Amity took a deep breath. “Okay, now that you’re both here we need to talk about something important. Something that’s been bothering me. The Fast Track program would have you two graduating at the end of not this semester, but next semester, correct?”

“Yeah. I mean we still haven’t heard anything certain about being accepted yet, but yeah that’s the time frame we’re working with.” Emira remained sprawled out on the bed. Any talk about the Fast Track stuff always exhausted her completely.

“Okay, that means when you graduate you two will still be a couple months away from turning 17. And when you graduate, you’re expected to go live on your own. I was trying to figure out what channels you’d need to look into for housing when I discovered that the absolute youngest you can be and sign for your own housing in Bonesborough is 18. In most places it's 21, but there are a few places you can sign at 18. If you’re not old enough to sign for it yourselves, then you have to get a signature from a legal guardian. Do you get what that means?” Amity opened up some of the books with her and flipped to relevant marked pages as she explained.

Edric hadn’t really calmed down and this pushed him just that little bit further. He fell back against the wall and let himself slide down to the floor. “It means that even if we do everything right. Even if we play by all the rules, we still end up homeless. I mean at least until we get picked up off the streets and carted to the Conformitorium.”

“We could probably find places to crash for like a year. I mean, we’ve always got the Owl House, right?” Emira was trying to find their out. They always figured something out.

“I’m not so sure the Owl House is a permanent solution.” Amity chimed in, “The Owl Lady is nice enough, but she’s a wanted criminal. Like, incredibly wanted. Even she can’t run from the Emperor forever. And she’s getting older. It’s just not safe. And if you guys happen to be crashing there when she gets caught, then you’ll be accomplices.”

“Then do you have some brilliant plan that solves everything?” Emira was getting sick of Amity shooting down ideas.

“As a matter of fact, I do. And please consider it. Don’t just say no without at least thinking about it.” Amity reached under her stack of books and handed pamphlets to the twins. The pamphlets proudly held the symbol of the Emperor’s Coven on the front. 

“Amity-” Emira started.

“I said hear me out! If you join the Emperor’s Coven then you have to live on site anyways, so that’s housing covered right there. You’d have to learn a few other forms of magic, but there’s standardized crash courses available. Besides, you two are some of the best illusionists around, so you probably wouldn’t have to worry too much about the other forms of magic. Plus who knows, maybe a few years down the line we could be the ones to throw Mom and Dad in the Conformitorium?” Amity was trying her best to pitch this to the twins. It was, as far as she was concerned, a perfect solution.

Edric just dropped the pamphlet at his side. He knew that it really would solve a lot of their problems, but he couldn’t do it.

Emira hadn’t even pretended to look at it, her eyes locked on Amity during the entire pitch. “Amity, you know we can’t. You know-”

“Please! My plan is to try to Fast Track as well. I-I’ll still be a couple years behind, but I’ll join you as soon as I can! We’ll be there together! I won’t leave you two alone! So, please...” Amity was desperately begging the twins at this point. 

“Amity, if we were to get sent off for being different, for being ourselves too visibly, who do you think would be the ones putting us in chains? The Emperor’s Coven. I refuse to be part of that system.” Ed didn’t look directly at Amity as he made his claim, but instead glared at the pamphlet in her hands. He was in no mood to envision himself putting innocent people in chains.

“You won’t get arrested for being yourselves! That’s just… them! They’re just hateful! I know they’ve tried their best to make you feel like it's illegal, but the Coven isn’t pulling Willow’s Dads out of their house!” Amity knew they would react like this and she was prepared to stand her ground, but she found herself silently begging the Titan that they would just listen to her.

“The point is that the people protecting them and going against people like us is the Emperor’s Coven. The specifics don’t really matter. They’re not on our side. They’re against us. And just because they won’t arrest us on sight doesn’t mean that they aren’t waiting for a chance to. Besides, there’s no way around the fact that we would have to bring in people who are mixing magic.” Emira, however, looked Amity directly in the eyes. Amity’s dream of joining the Emperor’s Coven was a conversation she’d been meaning to have for a long time now.

Amity, of course, knew exactly who she was talking about.

“They would have to join the Coven too. It would be the only legal way to combine their tracks. Besides, you shouldn’t be making decisions about your future based around some high school crush.” It was at this point that Amity was raising her voice, yelling at her siblings, “You two need to actually stop and think about your futures instead of just sitting around saying ‘Oh we’ll figure it out’ like a couple of children!”

It had been a long time since Amity had spoken to them with venom like that. It had been a long time since everything she did and said reminded them of their mother. Ed felt his blood boiling again and tried to calm himself.

After a long silence, he finally stood up, leaving the pamphlet on the floor. “I’m done with this. I’m going to bed.”

“Ed, we are not done talking about this. This is important and-” Amity jumped off of the bed and began to walk towards him, clearly intending to pull him back into the room.

“I said I’m done, Amity. Not up for negotiation.” The glare he shot her clearly caught her off-guard as she stopped dead in her tracks. He wasn’t sure if she was afraid of him or just shocked and frankly, in this moment, he didn’t care which it was. He closed the door behind himself a little harder than he’d meant to and bolted for his own room as quickly as he could.

He looked around his room and was angry at the mess. He wished it was spotless in here so that he could just start flinging things around and at least get some catharsis from making a big mess. He walked over to his desk and looked at himself in the mirror for a moment. Eventually he balled his hand into a fist and slammed it down onto the desk’s surface as hard as he could.

In an instant he was on the ground, his hand burning with pain. He wasn’t sure if anything was broken or if it just really hurt. After a moment he started laughing.

“This is so stupid. I thought punching stuff was supposed to be some kind of macho catharsis, but now here I am still mad and my hand hurts.” He spoke to no one in particular as he got up and fell over onto his bed. He just lied there in his bed with no concept of how much time passed until he finally fell asleep.

=======

For the first time since they’d started doing it, Edric didn’t join Viney for a morning jog. Instead he snoozed his alarm demon as much as he could get away with doing. He really didn’t feel like going to classes. He didn’t feel like facing Emira, he didn’t feel like getting out of bed. Once it had gotten late enough, he heard a knock at his door.

He gave no response, but eventually the door cracked open anyways. Emira stuck her head inside and turned the light on. “Hey, you gotta get up.”

“I know.” Ed said, his voice dripping with exhaustion.

“I know Mittens was being a bit overbearing, but she really does mean well. I’m sure this is all weighing on her too.” Emira moved to stand beside his bed trying to offer support.

Ed sat up, but still didn’t get out of bed. “It’s not that. Well, it's not just that.”

“We can ditch and talk about it, if you want, but we’re out of time now. Any longer and we’ll be late.” She put a hand on his shoulder before she turned to head out of the room.

Once she was gone, Edric got out of bed and gave getting ready his fastest and most slipshod attempt. Luckily the jogs with Viney had resulted in him being far, far less picky about what his hair looked like around other people.

As he got ready to leave his room he saw a piece of paper on the floor by the door. It was the pamphlet from last night. He guessed Amity must have slid it under the door when she headed to bed. He thought about throwing it in the trash, but tossed it on his desk instead.

He and Em rushed to Hexside at record pace. Once they made it to the front gate and caught their breath a little, Emira immediately set about making an illusion of herself. Ed still wasn’t feeling like talking about it.

“Sorry, Em. I just want to go to classes and get today over with.” He started to head inside when she grabbed his arm. Well both her and her illusion did.

“Hey, you clearly have a lot on your mind. I get wrapped up in my own stuff and kinda forget to make sure you’re doing alright, but I really do care and worry about you. I don’t know what Dad said to you, but talking about it will only help.” She tried her best to come across as sincere as possible. 

With a sigh and his ultimate inability to say no to Emira, he made an illusion of himself. Emira’s face lit up with relief when he did so as she let go of his arm. Once they sent their illusions inside, they quickly hurried away from the campus. They weren’t sure where to go. Somehow they ended up agreeing on the Owl House.

They were starting to get familiar with the path from Hexside to the Owl House. Enough that they were able to make it without Luz or Amity’s guidance. They waited at the treeline, trying to figure out the best way to get past Hooty.

They came up with several complicated plans that involved making an illusion of the Owl Lady or Luz or something. The idea of making a second Hooty even came up briefly. While they were discussing among themselves Hooty suddenly shot forward and was mere inches from Edric’s face in an instant.

“Hey there! Nobody’s home right now so please leave a message after the hoot! Hoot!” 

Ed stumbled backwards into a pile of leaves and mud at the sudden yelling. “A pretty on-brand start for today.”

“Hey, uh, Hooty can we come in even if no one is home? The Owl Lady said we were welcome whenever. We won’t touch anything, we just need a place to talk.” Emira kind of hated how familiar this thing was becoming. She definitely still didn’t want to touch it, but hey it was something.

“Hmmm.... Okay!” Hooty said before retreating back to the door, causing it to fly open. Emira helped Ed up and they hurried inside the house. Once inside they found it odd to see the house quiet and empty. It had seemed so impossible that this place could be anything other than noisy.

They sat down on the couch and Ed found his eyes glued on the framed Wanted poster that Eda kept as a centerpiece to the room. It was impossible not to see it. It was a stylized depiction of her with her golden fang visible and a wild cackle. Next to her was an equally silly rendition of King. And at the bottom was the bounty. A whopping one trillion snails. They would be set for life if they got their hands on that much money.

Emira noticed him staring at it and chuckled. “She seems proud of herself. Got it framed and everything.”

“It’s not right. She hasn’t done anything to merit this.” Ed just kept staring at the poster as though it would magically transform into something more pleasant.

“I mean, she’s done a lot of stealing. Pretty sure she tried to pickpocket us when she was inviting us to stay here that first time.” Emira laughed at the thought. The Owl Lady really didn’t pass up any chance she saw.

“It’s not about stuff like that. It’s because she won’t fall in line, which is kind of relevant to us right now I guess.” Edric still kept his eyes on the poster, right up until Emira turned his head to face her.

“You’re not thinking about being a Wild Witch out in the woods are you?” She was mostly joking, but given how Ed had been acting lately she wouldn’t be surprised honestly.

“Sounds better than trying to figure out where we fit in out there.” He tried to turn his head away, but she quickly turned him back towards her.

“You really do have a lot on your mind, huh?” Emira let him go. If he wanted to look the other way now she wasn’t going to stop him anymore. “Before anything else I want to ask you to please not be too mad at Mittens. She’s just-”

“She’s just trying to help in her own way. I know. I’m not mad at her, I just- Ugh, I don’t know.” Edric really, truly wished that Amity could have picked any other night to drop that on them. He couldn’t even tell where his anger at his father ended and his frustration at Amity began.

“Don’t think this isn’t bothering her too. That line about basing our futures around our crushes? I’m pretty sure she was talking to herself more than us. What all of this means isn’t lost on her. I’d say we need to help her navigate this, but I’m not even sure how we’re going to navigate all of this. But, that’s not what we’re here to talk about.” Emira looked as serious as Ed had ever seen her. “So, what happened?”

Ed suddenly felt childish. Of all the things to be upset over, he was mad about having to get a temporary job?

“You remember when Jerbo knocked over that stand and I paid for the damages? Well it showed up on the family expense reports. I have to get a job to pay it back. It sounds so stupid to say it out loud.” And now Edric was mad at himself for letting this get to him. Maybe Amity was right. Maybe he was just a child.

“It’s not stupid. Maybe if our parents had been reasonable at any point in our lives, yes I would say you were being dramatic. But these are two people who haven’t been anything but cold and cruel.” Emira put a hand on Edric’s shoulder. A gentle touch.

“I guess so. I mean what really got me worked up was him giving me a lecture about how he’s failed to teach me responsibility.” Ed rolled his eyes at his own words.

Ed felt Emira’s grip on his shoulder tighten.

“What like that blowhard has any idea what being responsible really means? Ugh, I’m getting upset just thinking about it. You have every right to be livid. If anything you don’t seem mad enough.” Emira was clearly, visibly angry. She was also glad that Ed hadn’t told her this last night because between the two of them they would have probably torn poor Amity apart.

“I was in a pretty foul mood last night, so I guess I at least partly worked through it. I don’t know how to describe it. Normally I’m just kind of anxious and… and afraid around him. I just try to avoid him, but ever since that night before Grom when he was yelling at you like that I haven’t been afraid. Just angry. And I think I’ve been angry at them for a long time, I just never really let myself feel it.” Ed’s eyes were starting to well up. “I don’t want to be an angry person. I don’t want them to make me into an angry person…”

“Hey! You’re like the least angry person I know. Except maybe Luz. I get being angry at them and resentful. I promise I get that. But that doesn’t make you an angry person. You’re our resident goofball and crybaby. You’re the one I’m always glad to have in my corner because you always know just what to say. You’re Ed and nothing they do can change that.” Emira wrapped Edric in a hug and squeezed him as tightly as she could.

“I’m not a crybaby!” He said while sulking into her shoulder, trying to stop tears from flowing.

“I’m gonna pretend like you’re not crying when you say that.”

The twins sat in the silent embrace for a long while. Was it minutes? Hours? It didn’t really matter. Finally Edric broke it to wipe his eyes and laugh at himself a little. 

“Okay maybe I am a little bit.” 

“Uh, Ed?” Emira started, trying to get his attention.

“I know. I should probably go job hunting. I could probably find something at the market.” He was lost in thought trying to think of places to work that wouldn’t consume all of his free time.

“No, Ed. Behind you.” Em had a look like a wince as she pointed behind him.

Edric turned around slowly and was greeted with The Owl Lady standing directly behind him a grin on her face from ear to ear.

“So, one of the Blights is looking for a job? That’s a new one.” She laughed at the thought and then pointed her staff at Edric. “Well, you’re lucky that you’re the endearing one. I could use some help with my stand on weekends.”

“How long were you back there?” Ed was genuinely surprised. He hadn’t heard her enter at all. Was Hooty even capable of being that quiet?

“Long enough.” She answered, pulling her staff back away from Edric.

From out of her hair King poked his head out. “Or you could work for me! The hours are long and grueling, the work brutal and crushing and there’s no pay.”

Eda yanked King out of her hair and set him down on the ground. “Pay is kind of the point of a job.”

“Yes, but when my power is restored I will ensure that all my minions get what they are due. A true King takes proper care of his minions.” King put his hands behind his back and explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

“That is tempting. Unfortunately money is my main concern right now. So I think I’ll have to go with Miss Eda’s offer. I could sign Em up for you though.” Ed leaned down close to speak with King, a big smile on his face.

“You know I could’ve sworn we had this conversation about the ‘Miss Eda’ thing. I’m not going to be held accountable for what happens to you if you do it again.” She gave her best glare at him, but it didn’t seem that he heard her once his sister began yelling at him about working for King.

Eda shrugged and wandered off into the kitchen, leaving them to try to satisfy the now power hungry King.

Eventually they managed to placate him and he scurried off to join Eda in the kitchen, leaving the twins alone in the living room again.

“Well I guess that’s one solution. But, there’s a certain conversation I need to have with a certain someone back at school. We should probably get going.” Edric stood up and immediately felt the knot in his stomach. He had promised himself that today was going to be the day he talked to Jerbo. Of course he had given himself leeway until the end of the week. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to put it off one more day? Besides he wanted some more time to separate his feelings about all of this. Yeah, it wouldn’t do to have all of this still hanging over his head.

“Oh no you don’t.” Eda stomped out of the kitchen holding as many cleaning supplies as she could possibly carry at once. “For breaking into my house while I was away you two are going to be spending the rest of today cleaning this kitchen. Hooty made a horrible mess in there and I’m not cleaning it up. I already know you’re cutting classes to be here so no getting out of it.”

She unceremoniously dumped all the stuff on the floor in front of the twins. Emira glanced between Eda and the cleaning supplies in shock. The Owl Lady loomed large with that ever present grin.

Edric felt a bizarre wave of relief wash over him when the task was assigned. Yeah, it wouldn’t hurt to put it off one more day.


	15. Off-Script

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amity Blight takes a good look at her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how I made it to chapter 15 before doing an Amity PoV chapter, but hey I finally done it. Also I forgot to do it last time because I posted that chapter in a bit of a rush (don't post chapters while you're dozing off kids) but I'm incredibly humbled by all the support I have been given! I never imagined this thing would reach a hit count like 10k!

Amity had barely gotten any sleep after her encounter with the twins. She’d spent all of her free time that afternoon in the library looking at boring legal texts and they barely even listened to her. 

She pushed it out of her mind and got ready for school as normal. At breakfast the twins were nowhere to be seen, which she was both grateful for and felt bad about. She decided to forego eating the entire meal so she could get to school a little sooner. Then this would all be behind her for a day.

Once at school she quickly found that arriving so early had been a bad idea as it left her basically alone with her thoughts. She even found herself hoping for Boscha’s arrival. Dark times, indeed.

She went to her locker and leaned against it, quickly losing herself in her thoughts. It wasn’t like she thought the Emperor’s Coven was perfect. Lately she’d been seeing more and more holes and problems in the way they operate. It all started shortly after she met…

She was actually grateful for the thought to be interrupted by someone approaching her. She expected it to be Boscha or Skara or maybe even Bump. She turned her head and saw the Dual Track boy that Edric was so into.

“If you’re looking for Edric, I haven’t seen him this morning.” Her voice was cold and quick. She didn’t mean for it to be, but when she was in a bad mood Amity Blight was spectacularly bad at hiding it.

“Oh, uh, actually I just saw you out here and wanted to say hey. We’re both in the same class today and we didn’t really speak much when we all hung out at lunch a few days back.” He shifted around nervously as he spoke, was he intimidated by her?

“Right, you’re in Abominations too. Oh! Uh this might be a weird question but how is Willow doing over in the Plant Track?” Amity wasn’t able to speak with Willow often and when she did it was obvious enough that Willow still wasn’t perfectly comfortable around her which usually kept the conversation brief. She couldn’t blame her, but she still worried about her from time to time.

“Oh, she’s doing great! It’s crazy to think that she didn’t have any formal training in Plant magic before switching tracks! She’s probably on her way to being top of the class.” His face lit up when talking about her. It made sense that the two would probably get along.

“That’s good to hear. I figured she had to be doing better than when she was in Abominations.” Amity let out a small laugh thinking about Willow’s performance in the class, before mentally scolding herself for it. That time hadn’t been a pleasant one for Willow and certainly wasn’t something she should laugh about.

After her laugh, Jerbo seemed to fall silent, his talking points exhausted. He looked around seemingly trying to come up with something to say before he finally took a step backwards.

“Well, I’m glad I got a chance to say hey before classes. I’m gonna go run and see if I can catch the twins before they get shut away in their homeroom. I know they usually run late.” He was already starting to turn away before even finishing his sentence.

“There’s absolutely no way you can get there and back in time.” It was sweet that he would be willing to risk that for a chance to talk to them, well a chance to talk to him, but she didn’t think the Dual Track kids should really be pushing their luck like that.

“Don’t worry, I know a shortcut.” He said cryptically before heading out.

As he disappeared from her line of sight, she noticed how many people were starting to file in. Maybe she should follow him and go talk to Ed and Em, but they probably didn’t want to talk to her right now.

She let out a groan. It wasn’t that long ago that she was perpetually at odds with the two, where they were constantly at war. But here she was now at odds with them again only this time it felt miserable. Honestly they would probably have never gotten as close as they are if it weren’t for…

“Are you like in a mood or what?” Amity was again pulled out of her thoughts, this time by Boscha with Skara tailing behind her as almost always. The three of them all had their lockers right next to each other so it wasn’t odd for them to be here, but they had completely snuck up on her.

“No more of a mood than you’re always in.” Her relationship with Boscha was primarily defined by sharing catty quips with each other. They always say they’re joking, but Amity suspected that neither of them was joking as much as they let on.

“Well try not to be too much of a bring down. Grudgby season starts tomorrow and I’m trying to get ready for that red carpet to get rolled out for me.” Boscha opened her locker and began pulling out some Potions textbooks as she spoke, clearly very proud of herself. 

“Oh boy Grudgby Season Boscha, my absolute favorite version of you.” Amity rolled her eyes and scoffed. This time tomorrow Boscha would be completely impossible to be around, guaranteed.

“Oh, that reminds me. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something. I think it's cruel what you’re doing with Willow.” Boscha often switched topics whenever she wanted, but this one caught Amity off-guard completely.

“What do you mean?” Amity now turned her focus completely to Boscha.

“I just mean if you keep using them as your weird charity case then she’s going to end up thinking she can make something of herself. The real world will chew her up if you keep going like this. Not to mention that if you keep hanging around them, people are going to start saying things.” Boscha gave Amity a look that was as close to sincere as she could probably get. 

She briefly wondered how much of her own garbage Boscha actually believed. “Well, lately I’ve found myself not caring what other people think. And from what I hear, Willow is doing much better now that she’s switched tracks.”

All three of Boscha’s eyes rolled at the last comment. “Oh, like that bar is so high. And you should care what other people think. Especially since I don’t want to sit through a three hour pity party because your parents are mad at you. Oh good example is the rumor flying around about your brother.”

“Wait, what rumor about Edric?” Amity was trying her best to think of any rumors about him that she’d heard lately. Since the two of them kept to themselves so much the twins weren’t given much consideration by most of the student body but they were still big names so rumors would pop up from time to time.

“You really haven’t heard? They say he’s dating the Dual Track girl in secret. Someone saw them sneaking to school together really early.” Now that she was given a chance to gossip, Boscha truly lit up. And when she saw Amity’s look of shock it only fueled her further. “Oh my gosh, it’s true, isn’t it? Now that is a juicy scandal!”

“Wait, I thought she was dating the Dual Track guy?” Skara seemed confused, but was eager to gossip. 

“That’s why it’s such a scandal. That whole gang of magic mixing wannabes is going to be ripped apart. Oh hey when your brother gets his heart broken is he gonna need a rebound girl? Because I’m available.”

“It is NOT true!” Amity’s face was red at this point. She guessed the truth would probably be considered more scandalous but that wasn’t the point. She also decided to not even acknowledge the absolutely disgusting mental image of Boscha with Ed. “People need to mind their own business.”

Boscha and Skara both laughed at Amity’s reaction. “It’s totally true!”

Amity simply glared at them and waited for either their laughter to subside or for the bell to ring. She had no preference for which happened first. Once it died down, Boscha finally closed and locked her locker. “Well I need to head to class. Later!”

As she started to walk away Skara stayed and smiled. “So Amity, you didn’t tell me the human was fun!”

Boscha stopped moving and turned around in an instant. “Seriously? I’m trying to tell her the importance of being careful who she spends time with and you want to set up a playdate with the human of all people? Learn to read the room.”

Skara seemed upset at the scolding, which seemed to satisfy Boscha who actually left this time. Once she was gone Amity wasn’t much easier on her. “The human has a name you know.”

“Sorry…” Skara grabbed her books and decided to head towards class, not wanting to risk another misstep against a moody Amity. “See you later, I guess.”

Amity watched her leave out of the corner of her eye. She’d have to apologize to her later, that really wasn’t called for. For now she just desperately wished the bell would finally go off so she could just get to classes and get her mind off of everything for a bit. Get her mind off of all of these questions she thought she knew the answers to. Get her mind off of having possibly ruined the only decent family relations she had. Get her mind off of the person who undeniably stood at the center of all of her doubts. Luz.

She let out a heavy sigh as she spotted movement which she quickly identified as Jerbo and with him was none other than the very human she was trying not to think too much about. They were both sprinting around the corner and straight towards her.

“Amity!” Luz called in a panic as she immediately put her hands on Amity’s shoulders as soon as she was close enough to do so. Amity was never much for physical contact herself, but it seemed vital to Luz that she be touching someone or something at all times, so she’d gotten used to it. Well, she was never totally used to Luz’s touch. “Amity, I think something’s wrong with Ed and Em!”

As soon as she heard the words, Amity’s heart sank. She knew exactly what was wrong. It was all her fault. As soon as Luz heard what she’d said to them, would she think of her as cold and uncaring? Would she think of her as controlling?

“Uh, w-what do you mean?” She needed to gauge what Luz and Jerbo knew.

“Jerbo is the one who actually talked to them, but what he said was worrying.” Luz stepped aside to let Jerbo speak.

“Well they were really kinda quiet and just gave really short answers to everything I said. I thought maybe they were just mad at me for something, but I don’t know they were just acting weird.” Jerbo stumbled through his words in a nervous rush. Clearly the thought of the twins being upset at him had shaken him a bit. Or maybe he was just that worried about them.

“Oh.” Amity said flatly once all the puzzle pieces fell into place. Luz and Jerbo both seemed confused at that reaction. “That was probably their illusions. They’re probably skipping classes again. The illusions look like them and can actually talk and respond but it's kind of limited.”

Jerbo turned bright red, embarrassed at having been fooled. “O-oh… Well, they’re very convincing.”

“Well if that’s settled, you should probably head to class Luz.” Amity was eager to be away from Luz. She also desperately wanted to spend more time with her. It was a confusing sequence of emotions.

“Oh I am headed to class! I’m in Abominations with you guys today! Ah it’s gonna be so much fun! I’m gonna get all goopy!” Luz slapped and squished her hands against her cheeks to emphasize her intent to cover herself in abomination filth. Amity was left with no choice but to bury her head in her books because that was the cutest thing she’d ever seen.

Luckily she didn’t have to explain herself as the bell finally went off, giving her a good excuse to hurry into the classroom. She took her seat and tried to focus her thoughts on classwork, but that plan went right out the window when Luz sat down beside her.

Luz was about to start chatting when the professor entered the room and immediately began his lecture. Amity knew this particular lecture front to back, so she unfortunately couldn’t bring herself to pay much attention to it. She stared out the window and let her mind wander.

Her mind instantly drifted to the previous night. She’d praised the Emperor’s Coven as being the solution to all of their problems but she was just hiding from the simple truth that she no longer believed a word of it. She felt so stupid. Every word of that pitch was for herself. She was just trying to convince herself that she was still on the right track. Ed and Em had spoken nothing but truth and she knew it.

The coven would protect their parents and everyone like them and as soon as she and her siblings were deemed too far outside of the box they would be cast aside. Ever since she’d learned the truth about the twins, and then the truth about herself, she’d known that the support she received was conditional. And there was nothing to say that one day those conditions wouldn’t change.

And then there was the fact that members of the coven were obligated to bring in people caught mixing magic. She was treated to an unsolicited imagining of herself proudly wearing the cowl of the Emperor’s Coven and preparing herself to bring the human who dared to mix all magics to justice. All because she was ‘following orders’. The more she imagined betraying someone who trusted her, someone she cared about so much, the more horrifyingly realistic it seemed.

She managed to pull herself out of her unwanted daydream by looking away from the window. She glued her eyes to her textbook before glancing over at Luz beside her. She’d expected to see the human goofing off or distracted or doing something adorable, but instead Luz was focused on taking notes. Her notes were messy and looked like they were all over the place, but it was clear she was giving it her all.

She let out a sigh as she felt her heart flutter. Sure she would feel it skip a beat when Luz did something cute or funny or even when she was reckless for no discernable reason. But this was at the heart of it. Luz was someone so genuine and driven. Sure she had trouble focusing most of the time, but when it came down to it, when it came to things that really mattered, she was able to laser focus and do what needed to be done.

She couldn’t do magic like everyone else. She had an extra hurdle to overcome that no one else on the isles had to deal with. But here she was, where no one thought she would be able to be: at Hexside studying magic alongside all the people to whom it came naturally. It was that boldness and drive that really made her unable to look away from Luz the Human.

Of course in this instance that was literal as she’d been staring at Luz for quite some time now. Luz’s eyes finally left the board in front of her and met with Amity’s. Amity quickly glanced away, feeling her cheeks burning. 

She couldn’t help but smile as she felt her heart still pounding and a warmth in her chest. If it weren’t for Luz she was afraid she’d have never known a feeling like this. If it weren’t for Luz she might never have known what it felt like to be in love.

She jerked with a start at her own thought. Love? Was that what this was? Would it even be right to call it that? Could it even be that? Could you be in love with someone who might not even feel the same way?

“Amity…”

She could even hear her voice. Amity had never really considered voices to be beautiful before, but there was definitely something unique about Luz’s.

“Amity!” Luz shook Amity out of her daydream and back into the real world. She was frantically pointing at the professor who seemed displeased with her.

“Welcome back to the world of the living, Miss Blight. I understand that you’ve heard this lecture before but I would request that you at least pretend to pay attention. Now, if you’re quite done with your daze, I’d like you to come up and give a demonstration.” He scowled at her and shook his head as his Abomination carried him around.

Amity apologized and began to walk to the front of the class. She heard laughter from other students when she was chastised, not that it bothered her. She moved to the front of the class where there was a large cauldron and a table with many unlabeled containers. She knew by heart that they were all Abomination ingredients.

From the front of the class she had a clear view of all the students. Of particular note was, of course, Luz who was excitedly giving Amity a thumbs up. Quickly averting her eyes, she decided to take the chance to see where Edric’s would-be boyfriend was and it took a moment of scanning to spot him in the very back of the classroom. If he was trying to be unnoticable, he was doing a great job so far.

“For our new faces, Miss Blight will be demonstrating the proper method for combining Abomination ingredients in a standard cauldron.” The professor directed the class’ attention to Amity.

Amity took a breath and quickly entered top student mode. “Abominations can be crafted in two major ways: Using your own magic and combining ingredients in a cauldron. We have here a collection of standard ingredients. If you turn to page 34 of the textbook you will find the full list in detail.”

She’d given this particular demonstration a few times in the past so she had something of a script at this point. Of course none of those past demonstrations featured Luz, who’s eyes looked like they were sparkling as she watched Amity seemingly completely enraptured by the display. 

She carefully explained the order and amounts of each ingredient to add to the cauldron. “And be sure to keep a constant stir, so that the ingredients all mix thoroughly. An inadequate mix will result in an unstable Abomination. And a big mess to clean up.”

The comment about making a mess was off-script, just something that popped into her head because she thought it might make Luz smile. Something about seeing Luz staring at her like this, giving her undivided attention made her want to go off-script. It made her want to show off. 

Amity Blight was on the verge of having an epiphany, but all the eyes staring at her brought her back to the presentation and back to her script. There was no need to do anything out of the ordinary. Just get through the presentation. Follow the script.

She continued with her explanation of the remaining ingredients and once the mixture was to her satisfaction she prepared the final flourishes. “Once everything is mixed and consistent the final step is to add some of your own magic to both animate the Abomination as well as bind it to you.” 

With a little more flair than normal she spun the spell circle and waited a moment before giving the order. “Abomination, Rise.” Upon the command being uttered, the gooey creature rose up from the pot, in perfect form. It was a textbook perfect Abomination. Her eyes instantly darted to Luz hoping to see her excited, but instead the human looked worried.

“Thank you very much, Miss Blight! A wonderful presentation as always.” The professor stepped forward and gave Amity her usual praise. She returned to her seat next to Luz who smiled at her before frantically sticking her hand in the air to get the professor’s attention.

“Now that you’re acquainted with the basics, we can- Oh, er, what is it Miss The Human?”

Luz stood up looking a little embarrassed. “What if we aren’t able to, um, add our own magic to the mixture?”

It hadn’t even occurred to Amity that without the ability to use magic like everyone else, Luz might not even be able to make Abominations at all. No, that wasn’t quite right. She just wouldn’t be able to do it like everyone else. She’d keep going until she figured out how to make it happen.

“Why if you can’t add your own magic to the mixture, then you’ve ruined a perfectly good cauldron!” The professor laughed heartily for a moment, assuming it was a joke. However when he saw her saddened reaction he seemed to recall what sort of limitations came with being human. “If you’re studying here in Hexside then that means you have demonstrable magical prowess young lady. You need only figure out how to apply it. Since you’re something of a special case we’ll have to figure out some sort of tutoring arrangement. Speak with me after class.”

As though the problems were already solved, Luz lit up with an absolutely radiant smile as she bounced back down into her seat. An impossible task was laid out before her: to learn all magic without actually being able to cast magic normally. Yet she seemed so excited and so eager to carve her own path and accomplish it anyways.

As much as she admired it and as much as it drew her in Amity Blight knew that, on some level, she was jealous of it too. Before meeting Luz she took great pride in all of her choices that put her so far ahead of her peers. She had clawed her way to being one of the youngest witches to ever be deemed Top Student of a Track like Abominations and didn’t waste her time on anything frivolous, choosing instead to pursue only things that would push her closer to her dream of joining the ranks of the Emperor’s Coven.

Only she realized now that it wasn’t her choices nor was it her dream. She had spent her whole life unknowingly following a script. She had done everything in her power to follow the script her parents had written and pushed away anything that threatened to take her off course. Until Luz showed up and basically slapped that script out of her hands that is.

Before that she hadn’t even realized that the concept of doing things for herself was alien to her. She hadn’t realized that she was allowed to just do something because she enjoyed it and not because it would get her some extra credit. But now she had actual friends to spend time with and just enjoy being around. 

For a brief moment she felt a pang of sadness, the thought “I don’t deserve it” drifting into her head. She quickly pushed it down. That was what they, her parents, wanted her to think. If there was one thing she’d realized while stopping to actually think about the Coven and all of this other stuff it was this: she was done giving them what they wanted.

Another scolding from the professor brought her back into the class where she resolved to stay focused. She managed to make it through the class with only minor distractions once she actually tried her best to focus on schoolwork. The bell rang dismissing the students to go to lunch break. Luz stayed behind to speak with the professor and Amity made the decision to wait outside the classroom for her.

She thought everyone had left when, after a long while the door opened and Jerbo walked out. She did little to hide her disappointment that it wasn’t Luz.

“You did a great job with that presentation! I’m not sure I could get up in front of everyone like that.” He chuckled nervously and gave her a smile.

“Thanks. I’m used to it. ‘Top Student’ means you have to give a lot of demonstrations. Usually dull ones.” She was trying not to blow him off. She’d already been rude to enough people today.

“Glad I’m not top student then. I’m in two tracks and I doubt I’ll ever be top student in either of them.” He gave another nervous laugh, trying to figure out what to say next. “Oh! Uh, are you waiting for Luz?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan. I’m not sure how long she’ll be in there though.” She slumped against the wall and let out a grumpy groan. 

“It’ll probably be a while. I needed to talk to him too and he told me to go first since they would be talking for basically the whole lunch period. So, you might want to just go on ahead.” He couldn’t help but smirk a bit at how blatantly grumpy she was without Luz.

“Ugh, of course he wants to chart out the whole thing right now. They really could be in there the whole break. If you don’t mind my asking, what did you want to talk to him about?” She figured it was as good of a conversation point as any. He was clearly trying his best to talk to her, so she shouldn’t let him do all the work.

“I was just asking some questions about Abominations with… non-standard ingredients. This has been like my first time getting to talk about Abominations with like actual teachers.” He seemed quite excited to be given a chance to talk about this.

“Oh. I guess it depends on what you mean, but most non-standard ingredients just destabilize an Abomination. It’s really best to stick to what’s in the books. Since you’ve not been taking actual classes, I’ve got to ask where your skill level with Abominations is.” While she didn’t intend to lecture him she couldn’t help but share a degree of enjoyment when it came to talking shop.

“That’s what he said too. As far as formal training goes? Basically none. I’m self-taught though and I like to think I’m alright at it.”

Amity was surprised to hear him talk like that. It almost sounded like bragging. From what she’d heard about this guy, bragging wasn’t really something he was capable of. 

“Well tell me how alright you are at it. What can you do?” She crossed her arms and looked at him skeptically. She figured he would tell her about what kind of mixes he could do, but he surprised her again by making a spell circle.

“How about I just show you?” He stepped back as he finished the circle and from a corresponding circle on the ground, a slightly smaller than person-sized Abomination rose.

Amity’s jaw dropped. “You just conjured an Abomination with just your magic and no prepared ingredients. I thought you’d tell me that you could stir a cauldron without spilling anything, not this! There’s no way you can do something like that without any formal training.”

The Abomination in front of her mimicked Jerbo’s nervous movements. “I, uh, promise I’m not any good at lying. I’ve just done a lot of reading, I guess. Well that and making messes at home practicing. You weren’t kidding about that stirring thing.”

“Well if you’re really telling the truth, that’s pretty incredible. If this is what you’re capable of without formal training then you’ll be something else in the actual classroom. I don’t know what your aptitude for Plant magic is, but you should really consider dropping down to just Abominations. You’ll really shine if you can focus on one thing. You might even give me a run for Top Student.”

Amity meant it as a compliment. Really, she did. But as soon as she said it, she saw whatever enjoyment he was having in the conversation just bleed out of him. He quickly dispelled his Abomination.

“I promise I’ve heard the focus thing before. Uh, anyways I need to head to lunch before Viney yells at me for not eating again. I hope you get a chance to talk to Luz.” It was blatantly clear that he was looking to break away from this conversation as quickly as possible.

“I’ll talk to you later, then.” She said and got no response as he hurried away.

She sat alone in the hallway scolding herself for the interaction. Of course he had been told to focus on a single track before. He wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble to Dual Track if he had any interest in focusing on one just for a chance to be a teacher’s pet. Maybe the title of Top Student wasn’t so alluring to everyone else. Maybe it wasn’t even so alluring to her anymore.

She thought about going to get lunch, since if Luz did come out of the classroom now she’d probably screw up that conversation too. But she really didn’t feel like listening to Boscha or Skara right now. Honestly if she really wanted the Boscha experience she could probably just hop on Pentstagram, since the girl documented every moment she was able to.

After much debate she decided that the idea of turning her brain off and mindlessly scrolling through Pentstagram sounded much better than beating herself up over her inability to communicate with people lately.

Sure enough Boscha was taking photos of herself and her food and basically anything that moved. Mixed in with all the other photos was one taken from a distance of Ed and Em. Well, their illusions more precisely. In the picture it looked like they were talking to each other which briefly made her wonder what illusions talked about. 

The comment on the photo was some nonsense about the rumor Boscha had mentioned before. She ignored it completely and instead just enjoyed the candid photo of the twins smiling. She wasn’t sure what she needed to say to them to set things right, but something had to be done. She decided that after school she would head to the library and start coming up with a plan. It was time to finally go off-script.


	16. Flower Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emira comes up with a plan of action

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I warned you that this would be a long week.

Emira woke up to the sound of commotion down the hallway. She tried to roll over and go back to sleep but it was a failed effort. Once she was awake, she was awake. With a grunt, she got up to get ready for school. As she was grooming her hair she spotted a note she’d left herself the previous night after getting home from scrubbing the Owl Lady’s horrible kitchen all day.

It was a note detailing her plan for having a serious conversation with Viney. She reviewed her painstaking notes. “Step 1: Be charming as heck.” The note ended there. 

She was feeling good about this.

Once she was finally ready to face the world, she decided to see what all the commotion had been about. She quickly found out that apparently Ed was sick and wouldn’t be attending classes today.

Emira charged up to his room to make sure he was alright and also to strangle him if he was lying. Without knocking she threw the door open and glared inside accusingly. Edric was standing on top of his bed, apparently pacing around on it. As soon as he saw Em he flopped down onto the bed, yanked the covers over himself dramatically and began loud, fake groaning.

She closed the door quietly behind herself and then, once she was sure no one else was listening, charged over to him and began to shake him by his shirt collar. “Why are you faking being sick? One: You can just skip classes if you don’t want to go. Two: You should have told me because I’d have joined you.”

“Sorry, Em. I just need one more day. The next time I see Jerbo, I’m gonna have that talk. But it's gotta be perfect, so I’m taking today to myself so I can workshop it. Make sure it's perfect.” He gave her an apologetic smile as she stopped shaking him long enough to let him speak.

She considered shaking him again, but instead she just pulled him partially off the bed and then let him go, hoping he’d tumble over. 

She crossed her arms and glared down at him. “You’re stalling. You’re nervous and you’re stalling. It doesn’t have to be perfect or whatever, you just need to do it.”

“Hey, I gave myself until the end of the week! I’ve still got a couple days!” He was off half of the bed and mostly upside-down but he gave being indignant his best shot.

“And what are you going to do when the end of the week gets here and you’re still making excuses?”

“Listen I just think it needs to be something special, you know? I’m not gonna flake out on this. I just need this one extra day. That’s all.” He pulled himself back upright and gave her his most sincere smile. It was a nervous sincere smile, but a sincere one all the same.

“Ugh, whatever. Excuses are excuses. I’ll believe it when I see it. Anyways I guess I better head to classes. By myself.” She started to head for the door, half hoping he would get out of bed and accompany her.

“What about Viney? You said at the Owl House that you were going to talk to her. Are you gonna talk to her or are you gonna make excuses?” He made sure to give her his smuggest available grin.

“Are you implying that you think I’m gonna get nervous and back down? Because I understand that having this conversation at all is more important than making sure it's perfect. As always, you should strive to follow my example.” With a smile and a wink she disappeared out of his room and headed off for class.

The walk to class was peaceful enough. Amity had apparently headed to classes super early, which meant she didn’t even get a chance to talk to her. “We really need a better solution to problems than talking about them.”

When she reached the front gate she saw Viney talking with Barcus. And Viney had her back turned to Emira. A deadly mistake.

She used an illusion spell to hide her presence, making her nearly invisible. As an Oracle student, Barcus could probably see her, but only when she got close. And hopefully by that point she could have done some damage.

“So I think I’ve figured out a good time and place. Just gotta survive a day or so of classes.” Viney chatted with Barcus, completely unaware of Emira sneaking up on her.

Barcus looked dead at Emira but simply smirked and let out a low bark, which Emira could not understand.

“If she were here right now? I don’t know, I’d-” Viney started before feeling a finger tapping at her shoulder. She snapped around to see who it was and, when she saw no one, glanced around in confusion.

Emira was trying her best to keep from laughing as she tapped Viney’s opposite shoulder, this time prompting a more energetic reaction as she whipped around suddenly. Though Viney couldn’t see her, the two were standing face to face. Emira was frozen in place, just soaking in all of her face that she could. She was just so, so close.

Viney let out a frustrated grunt before turning back to Barcus who seemed to be enjoying himself. She started talking with Barcus again which snapped Em back to reality and her mission to annoy her friend.

She tapped her shoulder again, this time prompting no response. Viney kept going with her chatter, now talking about classes. Emira tapped again, still getting no response. A third tap was attempted but she was interrupted when Viney’s hand suddenly snapped back and grabbed her wrist, squeezing tight enough that Emira couldn’t let go.

“Ow! Sorry!” She called out dispelling her spell and making herself visible.

As soon as she saw who it was Viney gasped and instantly released her grip. “Oh my gosh Em! Are you alright? I didn’t know it was you!”

“That was kind of the point. Good morning!” Emira was massaging her wrist. Viney had a tough grip when she wanted to.

“Do you need a healing patch?” Viney grabbed Emira’s hand and pulled it close, inspecting it. 

“It’s not that serious. But thanks for the concern.” Emira felt her heart flutter at Viney’s instant concern for her well being. 

Barcus’ smug grin remained as he made another comment that Emira desperately wished she could understand. Whatever it was, it caused Viney to turn red and immediately let Emira’s hand go.

“Ugh, shut up you!” She snapped at the dog who seemed to be enjoying himself entirely too much.

As she and Barcus bickered Emira glanced quickly at her notes. She couldn’t let herself be like Ed. Just get it over with. Sure, if she doesn’t feel the same way then it could change their friendship forever. And sure it might even make her upset with Emira. Maybe even disgusted.

She crushed the note in her hand and shook her head. “I’m Emira Blight and when I say I’m going to do something, I do it.” she thought to herself. 

As she steeled herself to speak up, Viney’s argument with Barcus died and she turned to speak to Emira first. “So, what’s happened to my jogging buddy? I haven’t seen him for the past couple mornings. Come to think of it, where is he?”

“Oh, uh, Ed’s out sick today. He’s come down with a case of stupid. I’m hoping it’s terminal.” She found herself disgustingly relieved that the topic was switched.

Viney laughed, which made Emira smile as she felt her cheeks burning. She also silently cursed herself.

“Well that’s too bad. Healing Magic hasn’t found a cure for that yet. We’ll really miss him.” Viney put her hand over her heart and put her head down mocking sorrow. After another quick laugh she perked back up. “Seriously though, I hope he’s okay.”

“He’ll be fine.” She smiled and hesitated. She knew what she needed to say, but it was suddenly hard to speak. She found the words dying in her throat as she tried. She decided to just try, no matter what words came out. “Hey Vi-”

“Hey Em, we gotta go meet up with Jerbo and get ready for class. I still want to take you on that flight I promised you. Is Friday after school good?” Viney gave a smile and a wave as she got ready to head out.

“Yeah, sure…” Emira mentally chastised herself again for not managing to say anything more than this. She guessed that she couldn’t give Ed too much grief after all. This was hard.

After a moment of thinking about it, she started to perk up. The flight! That would be the perfect time! She looked at the now crushed note in her hand. This wasn’t going to be enough. Now that she had a plan, she needed to make this something special. 

Emira spent her time in classes brainstorming ideas of things that would really make the encounter special. Of course she imagined grand illusions and expensive gifts. A light show, a private band. All ideas she eventually scribbled through in frustration.

She felt like she knew Viney well enough at this point to know that none of that stuff would impress her. Well it might impress her for a moment, just for the novelty of it. But what Viney really appreciated, what she would really love, would be something genuine.

But when she thought about genuine things she could offer, Emira was coming up blank. She was an illusionist for a reason, deceit was what she specialized in.

She guessed she could be genuine by giving up the constant attempts to impress Viney and just allow herself to be sincere and vulnerable around her. She dismissed the idea for being gross and also because she REALLY wanted to impress Viney.

Eventually she settled on something smaller. Flowers. Viney would be able to appreciate some nice flowers, right? Her name is Viney for crying out loud.

Once she was sure the professor wasn’t looking, she covertly got on her scroll and began looking through some flowers to find ones she liked. She picked out several that all had beautiful bright colors.

She was pulled away from her work when the bell rang to dismiss the class for lunch break. She didn’t mind as she was quite satisfied with her work thus far. She felt leagues ahead of Edric who was likely still pacing around his room figuring out how to start a sentence.

She made her way through the students pouring down the hall and as she rounded a corner, heard a familiar voice calling out for Ed. It was Jerbo who was trying to fight against the crowd. She couldn’t stop herself from laughing. Poor thing must’ve seen green hair in the crowd and gotten excited.

As he finally caught up with her, she tried to stay composed when he visibly deflated upon realizing which twin he caught up with.

“Hey there. Don’t look too disappointed.” She couldn’t stop herself from laughing a little when he started shifting nervously.

“I-I’m not disappointed! I just, uh..” He took a deep breath. “Is Ed avoiding me? I haven’t seen him at all since before we started attending regular classes. Unless you count your illusions yesterday.”

“Aw, is that what you’re worried about? He’s not avoiding you, it's just been a weird week.” When she told him that, Jerbo looked like his whole body relaxed a bit, like he had been completely tensed up from top to bottom. It must have taken a lot of his courage to come up and just ask outright what was up with Ed.

Which meant it was time to mess with him. “So, you saw our illusions, huh? Pretty convincing, right?” As she leaned forward she put her hands behind her back quickly spinning a spell circle and conjuring an illusion of her brother.

It clearly caught Jerbo off-guard to see Edric appear suddenly. He dropped one of his books and quickly dropped down to retrieve it. 

“F-for sure! You’re both very, um, very talented.” Once he got his book back he steadfastly avoided looking at the illusion of Edric, choosing to keep his eyes on Emira instead. “So, Viney mentioned that Ed is out sick today. Is he alright?”

Emira rolled her eyes and dispelled the illusion. She was hoping it would’ve made him more of a mess than this. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. It’s nothing some time to himself and a good night’s rest won’t fix.”

“That’s good to hear, but um…” Jerbo seemed to once again be trying to summon all of his courage. “This is a weird question, but…”

He trailed off and Emira stood there waiting to hear the question part, but it didn’t seem like he was going to be able to finish that sentence without some extra prodding. “Sorry, but I’m not in the Oracle Track. You have to actually ask the question for me to answer. Try actually breathing.”

“Sorry.” He apologized and took another breath, which seemed to steady him. “Okay. This is a weird question, but could you… Could you give me Ed’s scroll number? I want to send him a get well soon message.”

Jerbo was bright red and staring directly at his feet as he asked the question. As soon as he glanced up he was greeted by the most smug and menacing grin he’d ever seen Emira with.

She pulled out her scroll and lazily moved through her contact list. “So, you want Ed’s number, huh? Bold move, coming to me.” With a quick spell her scroll disappeared as quickly as it came. “Unfortunately for you, I don’t take charity cases. I have a project that you can actually help me with. You help me, I help you.”

Jerbo was certain that this is what an insect feels like when it lands in a spider’s web. “Am I allowed to know what I’m agreeing to before I agree to it?”

“Not yet. I can’t risk that information falling into the wrong beautiful hands. If you want Ed’s number, meet me at the market after school. I think it goes without saying that you’re to come alone. Deal?” She stuck out her hand. It wasn’t an everlasting oath, but a handshake was still a good way to seal a deal.

“This already sounds like it's way too much. I’m just going to hope you’re being dramatic and you’re asking for something silly.” He started to reach towards her hand to seal the deal, but stopped short. “I reserve the right to back out of this if it’s anything too crazy. And I want more than just the number. There’s a couple things I want to know and you’re going to tell me.”

Emira was shocked. She hadn’t expected this dweebus to show backbone like that. With a grin she grasped his hand and shook firmly. “It’s a deal. I guess I’ll see you later.”

She made a dramatic show of walking away as she headed towards the cafeteria to get some food with what time she had left. The drama ended up just making things awkward as they both were headed the same way. She should’ve known that he was headed to the cafeteria as well. They walked in silence aside from once or twice where Jerbo attempted to start a conversation which died after a word or two.As soon as they were in the cafeteria, they went their separate ways. 

It was strange going to the little corner of the cafeteria that she and Ed usually holed up in without him. She always felt that little twinge of guilt when she was happy to be on her own. Sometimes she just needed the room to breathe.

She quickly returned to her work, scrolling through pictures of flowers and daydreaming about Viney giving her one of those backbreaking hugs when she received them. The lunch period was nearly over when she suddenly realized something. It was quieter than usual in here.

Emira tore her eyes off of her scroll and looked over at the table Luz and company usually sat at. It was empty. Luz was one of the only people who actually seemed to like the cafeteria food, so it was odd that she’d be missing. Another scan confirmed a theory. Amity was also missing. They were probably up to something.

It didn’t seem like it had gone unnoticed by Principal Bump either, who kept getting up out of his chair and nervously looking out the window every minute or so. Now that Emira gave it some thought, the school had been disaster free for a little bit. So we’re overdue.

========

After classes Emira hurried to the market as quickly as she could. Once there she hid behind a stall and began practicing making illusions of the flowers she’d chosen. She would need to be able to show Jerbo which ones she had picked out and without using illusions her only options would be to hand him her scroll to show him the pictures. And if he was smart, he would take it and run.

No, she wouldn’t be taking any such chances. Once she was satisfied with her handiwork, she came out from behind the stall and saw Jerbo milling around the entrance waiting for her. He hadn’t noticed her approaching which instinctively prompted a burning desire to mess with him. She fought it back for now. She needed him to be feeling cooperative.

“Hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.” She couldn’t help but snicker as she snapped him out of whatever daydream he had fallen into.

“I haven’t been here that long. It took a bit to get away from Viney and Barcus. So, what’s the big secret?” He was trying not to let it show that he was exhausted from running the whole way here.

“Okay, let’s find somewhere private.” Emira grabbed his hand and pulled him along, trying to find a place where there wouldn’t be any prying eyes. 

“If you want private, I don’t think the market is the best place.” As she drug him along, he was trying his best not to trip over his own feet.

She really didn’t want to be seen pulling Jerbo behind a market stall. That would be a rumor waiting to happen. She eventually settled on a largely abandoned corner near the rear exit. She finally let him go after dragging him through the entire market.

“Why are your hands so clammy? Do you just not generate body heat? How are you cold and sweaty?” She waved her hand around in the air as if she were disgusted by making contact with him.

“Oh I’m sorry, I’ll make sure to wear gloves next time you want to pull me along through the market.” He seemed irritated with her and given how little she’d told him so far, she couldn’t blame him.

“Alright. You’re in the plant track so I need your help. I’ve got a big… thing coming up soon. And I want to have some flowers ready. Can you help me with that?” She was trying her best to be as vague as possible. After all she didn’t want to take any risks.

“Aw, she’ll love some flowers.”

“I didn’t say anything about the flowers being for anybody.” She answered a little too quickly.

“They’re for Viney, right?”

It was really starting to upset Emira how Jerbo spoke with an earnest tone and without any spite or sarcasm. It was also upsetting that this was at least the second person she’d talked to who already knew.

She let out a long, loud, frustrated groan. “Yes, fine they’re for Viney. Are you happy?”

“Yes, very. Em this didn’t have to be a big secret mission. You should have just told me up front. I would have brought some stuff with me. Now, do you have any specific flowers in mind or did you just want me to help you shop?” He crossed his arms in his best imitation of what Viney did when she was scolding someone, even if he knew he lacked her presence.

Emira smiled and cast her illusions of the flowers she’d picked out. Jerbo seemed shocked by their sudden appearance. Then he set about appraising her picks. In less than a minute he looked her dead in the eyes.

“These are all terrible picks.”

“What?! No way, these all look great!” She couldn’t believe the audacity he had. Clearly he just had no taste whatsoever.

“I mean they look nice, but you don’t know anything about these actual flowers, do you?” He started on the far side of the line up and began with his review. “Poisonous. Poisonous. Secretes Acid. Poisonous. Okay this one isn’t poisonous, but it does talk and it only talks about whatever you’re most self-conscious about. We have one in the school’s Greenhouse but it doesn’t like me. It says I’m self-conscious about too much at once.”

Emira looked on in horror as he gave a similar review for every single flower she had picked out. Every single one was either poisonous or carnivorous or just a jerk. She noticed he skipped one but didn’t say anything until the end.

“So yeah. Like I said. All terrible picks. We can probably find something more appropriate around the market. Usually the more muted the colors are, the safer the plant is to be around.” He knew exactly where the plant related stalls were and eagerly turned to start heading that way.

“What about this one? You skipped it. It doesn’t like, eat faces or anything, right?” Emira desperately grabbed the illusion of a small yellow flower with a red ring around its center and small red dots on each petal. In the center were markings resembling a cute little face.

“Oh that. No, that one is safe, but I skipped it for a reason. That’s a Lily Carnation. It’s like one of the most elusive flowers on the whole isles. They’re super, super rare and they only grow up near The Skull.” He was trying to explain why she should give up on it and try to find something more reasonable, but he could tell that she was just excited.

“OH, that’s perfect! Viney mentioned that she’s from The Skull! It’s so perfect! We gotta get one now!” Emira was bouncing in place excitedly and moving with a giddy energy that Jerbo definitely hadn’t seen before.

“Emira, we’re not going to find a Lily Carnation here in the Bonesborough market.” He didn’t follow after her and instead tried to talk sense into her.

“Not with that attitude. I’m Emira Blight. When I want something, I get it. See this is your problem. Getting what you want is about taking charge and making it happen. You can’t always just sit on the sidelines and wait for a safe, sensible answer.” Her calm, confident words heavily contrasted her still bubbly and bouncing energy.

Jerbo seemed to be thinking about what she’d said. “Okay. Before I help you look for this, give me the number. That’s my entry fee.”

“Now that’s more like it. I’m proud of you, dweebus.” She smiled as she shared Edric’s contact information with him. She couldn’t help but notice the goofy grin on his face as he saved it.

He started to type up a message, but constantly deleted any attempt. He kept bemoaning every failed attempt, which frankly she could only watch for so long.

“Alright! You can fuss over that later. We have work to do!” She charged ahead towards the market and suddenly stopped and turned back to Jerbo. “Which way are the flower stalls?”

He laughed at just how much energy she had. She was like a little kid and he never thought she could even act like this. “Follow me, I know a couple good ones.”

The market was, very loosely, divided by coven. Most of the Abomination ingredient stalls were near each other and musical stuff for whatever bards do and, of course, the plant stalls which Jerbo frequented.

As they looked around at stalls with various soils and fertilizers Jerbo couldn’t help but regret not bringing more money with him. Of course he was also glad, because sometimes he had trouble stopping himself at these places.

“You can stare at dirt on your own time. We are here for flowers. I need you to stay focused.” The long walk had given her time to diffuse her energy from earlier and now she was back to being her normal sarcastic and vaguely grumpy self.

“We’re almost there.” Jerbo pulled himself away from a really good deal on some bigger pots to focus on the task at hand. They rounded the corner and came upon a row of stalls all containing various flowers including some of the ones that Emira now knew to avoid.

“Okay, I’m not saying that we won’t find what you’re looking for, but you should really consider a backup plan. You know in case none of these stalls have one of the rarest flowers in the world.” He was scanning the stalls, looking for that signature yellow and red.

“We’ll come up with a backup plan when we need one. Focus all that downer energy on looking.” She was tempted to use her magic to make her legs longer so that she could see further, but decided against attracting the extra attention.

It didn’t take Jerbo long at all to look through the regular stalls. Sure enough there wasn’t even anything close. Emira came back from her search clearly having had no luck either. At Emira’s insistence they made a second pass through, to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. After half a third pass through, she seemed to have accepted her fate.

“Sorry, Em. I told you it probably wouldn’t be here.” He was nervous that he would come across as saying ‘I told you so’ instead of sincere. He wouldn’t dare mock someone like Emira.

“Ugh, I know. I just… Ah! It was so perfect!” Emira stomped around as she fumed. She had the whole romantic thing all planned out in her head and now it was ruined because the flower happened to be impossibly rare or something dumb like that. “I bet if I were Luz there would just so happen to be one stall that had it and I could just do some life or death duel for it.”

“That does kinda sound like Luz. Okay, uh, I have an idea. And it’s kind of a crazy one. The Lily Carnation is really cool and all, but it would still be just another flower you bought. If you want to make it something really special and personal, I could help show you some plant magic stuff and you could grow a flower yourself!” In his mind, this was the perfect solution. It was something small, but personal. Of course as soon as he said it, he was scolding himself. Of course Emira wouldn’t go for it. She’d be repulsed by the idea of mixing magic.

Instead of yelling right away she seemed to be thinking about it. He stared at her hopefully as she contemplated. Was she really considering it? Or was she just trying to find words to let him down easy? He reflexively drew a spell circle and created the only illusion he knew how. As always, it calmed him a bit.

“Do you think I could really have it grown by Friday? I don’t know anything about Plant Magic.” She looked like the gears were still turning in her head, but she was receptive.

He had managed to convince himself that she would hate him for even suggesting it, so Jerbo was relatively stunned by the question. “Of course! Something simple like getting a flower to grow won’t be hard. It won’t be what you were looking for, but I think you’ll find it even better.”

With her head finally out of her thoughts, she looked at the flower bulb in Jerbo’s hand. Even though he was talking and moving excitedly he cradled it so gently in his hand. “Sounds like a plan then. So is that the illusion Ed taught you?”

Jerbo glanced down and seemed surprised to see it in his hands. He hadn’t even really meant to make it. He looked at it and then back at her, with that signature Blight grin on her face. “Y-yeah…” He quickly dispelled it in embarrassment. “Anyways! That reminds me. The next part of my fee. What- Oh, there’s no way to phrase this where I don’t sound like a weirdo.”

Emira laughed at him as he interrupted himself mid-sentence with a look on his face that could only be described as mortified. He shot her a dirty look while she laughed, but quickly darted his head away when she looked back at him. “Take as long as you need to choose your words, but don’t worry because I already thought you were a weirdo.”

Jerbo took a deep breath to steady himself. He started to spin the circle for his illusion again, but caught himself this time. “What is Ed’s favorite food?” He was burning red as he asked and immediately felt compelled to explain himself. “I-I just want to have something for him when he’s feeling a bit better!”

Normally Em would’ve laughed in his face for asking a question like that so bluntly, but she could tell that all of her laughing was just putting him more on edge. So she stifled her laughter and did her best to stay composed. It fell apart in a matter of seconds, but she tried dangit.

“Sorry! Sorry! That’s really sweet actually!” Jerbo looked a bit like he was going to die of embarrassment, so she was trying her best to save this. “Okay. No more laughing. I promise. Ed’s favorite food? Well you can’t go wrong with any sweets, but his absolute favorite is Murderberry Tarts. The kind that have that glaze on them so they’re sweet on the outside with the tart flavor in the middle.”

Jerbo seemed to be thinking about the new information. “That makes sense. Follow up question: Do you know how to make them?”

“Sort of. I tried to make some for our birthday one year when we were little. I mostly just made a mess, but I can probably dig up the recipe. I think I know where this is going and you’re going to have to make this good for me to consider it.” Emira crossed her arms and glared at him. Every bit of Jerbo’s body language gave off the vibes of being nervous and afraid, but she didn’t budge.

“Okay. I will give you the absolute best crash course in Plant Magic that I can give. We won’t rest until you have some beautiful flowers all ready to go. In return, you help me make these tarts. I won’t make you buy any ingredients or anything! If you find the recipe, I can pick the stuff up after school tomorrow!” Having a plan seemed to have steadied his nerves a bit as he made it through the entire proposal without stammering or slipping up his words, though he did have a bit of trouble with volume control. 

She wanted to tease him about how this was the sweetest and most innocent crush she’d ever seen, but decided to save it for another time. “Sounds good to me. So where are we going to be doing all this cooking and gardening?”

“Oh, uh, we could do it at my house. I’ve got the place to myself for a few days so you wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else. I actually live pretty close to here.” He motioned presumably in the direction of his house.

“That sounds good. You better make sure it's clean before I step foot in there. Just because Ed is a slob, doesn’t mean I am.” She crossed her arms and tried to give him her best serious face.

The conversation was suddenly cut by Emira’s scroll going off. She was a bit confused as to who would be calling her at this time. Ed never calls, he just sends like fifty messages. Once she got her scroll out, she saw the call was from Amity.

“Ugh, seriously? Does she really want to have this chat over the scroll?” She groaned and thought about not answering it at all. However she saw that she also had something like twenty messages from Edric. She had a bad feeling. “Hang on, I gotta take this.”

“What’s up Amity?” She began, trying not to start things off too hostile.

To Emira’s great surprise the voice on the other end of the scroll was not Amity, but Viney. “Hey, uh, Em? It’s Viney. Sorry this is sudden, but you’re going to want to come to the school’s Healing Ward. Amity’s been hurt. I already called Ed.”

Without offering any parting words to Jerbo, Emira Blight bolted towards Hexside as fast as her legs could carry her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is the last chapter of this year, I want to take a second to say thanks for all the support and I hope you all have a fantastic New Year!


	17. Forgiveness and Unforgiving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The twins find out what happened to Amity and Boscha finds out will happen to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Year, Same Me. Thanks for all the support as always and let's try to make this year as great as we can!

“Okay, I called both of them. They should be here soon.” Viney gave the scroll back to a grateful Amity, who was really starting to appreciate the pain killing serum she’d been given. “I know you said that you wanted to talk to them before I contact your parents, but I just want to make sure you know that I will have to contact them.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate this. So, um, how bad is it?” Amity’s eyes sheepishly hopped between Emira’s contact page on her phone and Viney.

“We’ll have the exact results in a bit, but you’re definitely going to need a cast. You’ll probably be out of action for a couple of weeks.” Viney let out a small groan when she saw that Amity’s foot had come off of the pillow keeping it elevated. She grabbed her leg and placed it back on, not really giving it her gentlest effort. The serum meant she would barely even notice. “And this needs to stay up. Try to keep it from sliding off. Now, you’re lucky I was on clean up duty. If it had been anyone else here this late they would have had to call your parents first.”

“Sorry. And thank you again.” Amity was already nervous about the idea of being cooped up in the Blight household for that long. She was also kicking herself for sending Luz away so soon. Luz would probably have a dumb joke and a smile, which was just what she needed right now.

“It’s no problem. So, how are you feeling? Any discomfort?” She still had her arms crossed in scolding mode, but Viney still had to check on her patient.

“Not physically. This serum is good stuff.” Amity smiled nervously and indicated the pain killer that was still at her bedside. Anything to get Viney to lighten that gaze. Emira had really fallen for a tough one here.

“Yeah, that’s really good stuff. You’ll probably be asleep in a half hour or so. Depending on how long your chat with the twins takes, you might be out by the time your parents get here. Which is a conversation I’m not totally looking forward to having.” Viney didn’t know much about the Blight parents since neither Ed or Em really talked about them, but just based on reputation alone? Yeah, she was more than a little intimidated.

“I’ll try my best to stay awake so I can take some of that off of you. Because on your own? That’ll be a fun one.” Amity was now trying to think her most energetic thoughts in an effort to fight the drowsiness that she could already feel a little.

“Fun is probably not the right F word.” Viney said with a smirk as she got up and started to head towards the door. “I’m gonna go get the stuff to start setting the cast and check on your results. I’ll only be a few rooms over, so just raise your voice if you need anything.”

“Alright. If you need me I’ll just be in here both moping and trying to keep my energy levels up.” For someone with a possibly broken leg, Amity was honestly in pretty good spirits. That was probably the most fun she’d ever had playing Grudgby and spending time with her new friends, her real friends, always was a mood lifter.

But on the other hand. She was about to be face to face with Ed and Em and frankly she had a lot she needed to say to them. After that was explaining how she ended up in the healing ward to her parents. She probably just had to mention that she was playing Grudgby again and her mom wouldn’t care about anything else. There was no need to bother with details like who she had been playing with: a witch she wasn’t supposed to be around and an adorable human.

A few minutes later Viney came back into the room with a big box of supplies which she set down next to the bed. “Alright, I got your results. I’m not telling you right now though.”

“What?! Why? Is it that bad?” Amity didn’t know what to make of that at all. Her mind immediately started bringing up worst case scenarios. “Are you going to have to amputate?”

Viney laughed at Amity’s sudden shift into paranoia. “No, you can keep it for now. I’m not going to explain the details to you, then explain it again to the twins and then a third time to your parents. I’m giving this info out twice at the most. You can just wait for your brother and sister.”

Viney got some cloth out of the box and began wrapping it tightly around Amity’s leg and foot. Once she seemed satisfied with the cloth, she spun a circle and began applying the actual cast. The cast was formed from a shell of the healer’s own magic and it had to be very carefully applied.

She was so focused on what she was doing that she very clearly didn’t hear Emira enter. Emira, having just sprinted all the way from the market was taking a moment in the doorway to catch her breath.

“Hang on. I need to go get somethING!” Viney got up and started to walk towards the door and stumbled over in shock when she saw Emira in the doorway.

Amity looked down at Viney on the floor and then at the now giggling Emira in the doorway. “Please don’t kill my Healer.”

“You alright?” Emira asked as she helped Viney up, trying not to show how winded she was. Adrenaline had been a big help in getting her this far this fast but almost as soon as she stopped running she was really feeling it.

“I’m fine. You’ve got to stop sneaking up on me though.” Once she was up, she motioned for Emira to step out of the doorway and hurried out of the room. “I’ll give you two some privacy.”

Em immediately turned her attention to Amity, who looked undeniably nervous. She looked at the recently applied cast. “How are you holding up, Mittens?”

When Em referred to her as Mittens Amity let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. The twins switching from the playful nickname to a sterner Amity hadn’t escaped her. She’d always thought the nickname was more than a little embarrassing, but she was so, so relieved to hear it again. “I’m full of painkillers, so honestly I’m doing great.”

Emira quickly and without remorse stole the chair that Viney had been using and moved it closer to the head of the bed. “Sounds like a good time. I called Ed on the way here and he’ll be here in a few minutes. I think he’s probably overdoing it to get here as quick as he can.”

Viney walked back into the room with a handful of healing coven patches. “Sorry, I know I said I’d give you some privacy, but I need to put these on now. I almost forgot. ...Did you steal my chair?”

Emira whistled innocently and pretended like she didn’t hear that last part. Viney thought about pulling the chair out from under her but decided to instead just apply the patches. Feeling a weird tension in the room, she went through the process a little faster than normal. “Okay I’m gone for real this time. Send one of the twins in after me when you’re ready for me to call your parents.”

Once Viney left the sisters sat in silence for a while, neither sure what to say. It was Amity who first broke the silence. “I wasn’t sure if you two would even bother coming after the way I acted the other night.”

“Amity, you’re our sister. I mean to be totally honest Ed and I kinda have a weird relationship with the concept of family, but that’s a whole other conversation. The point is we care about you and love you and even if you yell at us and even if we’re fighting, we’re still going to look out for you.” Emira put her hand on Amity’s as she spoke, trying to make sure she knew that no matter what, her siblings still loved her.

“Thank you. For everything. I want to look after you two as well, despite how I might have made things sound.” Amity took a deep breath, getting ready to talk about what she’d called Emira here for when they heard the sound of doors being thrown open. They sat in silence as they desperately hoped it was Edric and not their parents. After a long moment, Viney entered the room, with a sweat-drenched Ed basically draped over her. She propped him against the wall and watched him slide down. He’ll probably be fine.

“I will be amazed if he doesn’t throw up.” Viney looked at the group and then glanced with worry down the hall towards the entrance. “What is Jerbo gonna come running through the door next?”

“Please Titan No” Edric barely managed to squeak out. He did NOT want Jerbo seeing him like this.

“Well if that’s our whole crew, maybe I can stay gone this time. To get everyone up to speed, Amity has a minor fracture in her foot. As far as fractures go, it’s nothing too serious. She just needs to stay off of it for a couple weeks. That’s pretty much all from me. Let me know if I need to scrape Ed up off the floor.” She waved goodbye and left the room again. From in the hall they heard one last remark. “And make sure Amity keeps her leg elevated!”

Amity and Emira waited a few minutes for Ed’s pants and heaving to subside as he caught his breath. Once it seemed like he was just merely exhausted and thankfully hadn’t thrown up it was time to start.

“Okay. Before anything else I want to apologize for the other night. I’m sorry. For all of it. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the Coven and about our parents and- and about all of this. I’ve spent my whole life trying to be someone who was good enough for the Emperor’s Coven and someone who could make our parents happy. I know it doesn’t excuse anything I said, but I was desperate to convince myself that any of it meant anything. And I thought if I could convince you two to join the Coven then maybe that would mean I actually had a place there too.” Amity’s eyes moved back and forth between the twins. She had no idea how they would react. They had every right to be angry with her still.

“We kind of figured that out.” Emira said with a smirk. “I know none of this has been easy on you. After what happened with Ed and I, they put all of their expectations onto you. That kind of pressure will get to anybody. Even Miss Top Student.”

“It’s not like you were totally off base. We really do need to come up with some kind of plan.” Ed had regained enough composure to attempt a smirk as well. “The tricky part is that we want those plans to include you, Mittens. I promise we don’t want to leave you behind.”

Amity’s eyes began to well up and sure enough tears started to pour down her face. It always caught the twins off-guard to see her like this. Of the three Amity was the one who kept it together the best.

“Hey, don’t cry! Viney’s gonna think we were bullying you.” Emira leaned forward and thought about doing the hug thing with her, but Amity pushed her away a bit.

“I’m fine! I’m just so upset at myself! I thought I’d grown up but I’m still just the same stupid kid!” She tried and failed to choke back tears as she spoke. “All that time ago I pushed Willow away just because they wanted me to. When all this stuff with Luz started I really thought I had changed. Grown up, you know? But when my back was against the wall, I just tried to do what they wanted me to again. I don’t know what I would do if I pushed you two away too.”

That was enough for the twins to force Amity into a big family hug, whether she wanted it or not. After a moment of crying into various parts of their clothes, it seemed the tears were finally stopped. 

“You’re too hard on yourself, Mittens.” Edric ruffled her hair as he leaned back out of the embrace. As always it earned him a glare from his younger sister.

“Yeah, that’s our job. We’re supposed to be hard on you.” Emira waited until Amity fixed her hair to ruffle it as well.

“Stop that!” Amity snapped. Once she fixed her hair, she let out a sigh. “What I mean to say is: Thank you. I don’t know if I completely deserve you guys being so forgiving, but I don’t think I could put what it means to me into words.”

“Aw, Em she thinks we’re forgiving!” Edric put his hand to his cheek with a sinister grin.

“Oh Mittens you aren’t getting off that easy. You said some pretty hurtful things, you know.” Emira made the same gesture as Edric, but with the opposite hand. “As soon as that leg is all better we’re going to put you to work. Lucky for us there will be plenty of time to come up with stuff for you to do while you rest up.”

Maybe she’d come to regret it later, but Amity couldn’t overstate how relieved it made her to see her siblings smiling and carrying on like normal. 

“All right, is that the mushy stuff out of the way?” Edric leaned on the backside of Emira’s chair and nearly caused the whole thing to flip over. “Because now you have to tell us what happened to your leg.”

“I was playing Grudgby with Luz and Willow. Boscha knocked me to the ground and when I tried to get her off of me she threw me back on the ground again and I guess I landed on my leg a little too hard or something.” She looked down at her cast and then back to the twins who she could immediately tell were up to no good.

“Boscha is the one with three eyes, right?” Emira asked innocently enough.

“You two leave Boscha alone. It’s Grudgby. Accidents happen.” Amity didn’t have any particular desire to protect Boscha but it was easy to imagine the twins taking things too far and of all the people that could actually get them in trouble, Boscha was pretty high on the list. Besides, it’s not like Boscha did it on purpose, right?

“We’re not going to do anything to Boscha.” Emira was normally a very good liar, but this time she couldn’t stop her grin from betraying her.

“Nothing she can prove anyways.” Edric added which prompted a laugh from Emira.

“I’m serious you two! During Grudgby Season Boscha can get away with basically anything. She could probably get you in serious trouble.” Amity could already tell her pleas were falling on deaf ears, but she had to try.

“Well one thing she’s not going to get away with is hurting our lovable baby sister.” Emira moved down to the foot of the bed and gently patted Amity’s cast as if to prove her point. “Besides what are you going to do, run after us?”

Now is the time to walk you through Amity’s painkiller fueled and drowsy thought process. Foot is in cast. Cast protects Foot. Kick Emira with Cast will hurt Emira but not Foot. 

Immediately after slamming Emira’s side with her foot Amity Blight learned why you should not do that as her foot lit up with pain from the impact. With Emira knocked down to the floor and Amity howling in pain on the bed Edric thought he should probably call Viney but opted to take a photo first. 

As Edric was taking the picture Viney sprinted into the room and looked at the display in confusion. She looked over at Edric who looked like a deer in headlights. “I can explain.”

With a look of frustration Viney set to work getting Amity’s leg back up and giving her probably way too much of that painkiller serum. She then helped Emira up and wanted to inspect where she had been kicked but Emira refused to raise her shirt up enough to let her look at it. Behind Viney’s back Edric was making kissing faces.

Once she was done Viney finally let out a sigh. “Okay do you guys want the good news or the bad news?”

All of the Blights had a terrible feeling in their gut about this news. Ed was the first one to speak up. “Good news first please.”

“The good news is that the professor actually already contacted your parents. The bad news is that they’re here now.” Viney really did not like the grim look that fell on all of the Blight children when she delivered this news. Were their parents really that intense?

“Ed, you gotta get out of here. You’re supposed to be at home sick.” Emira shot a worried glance over towards Edric who seemed to be realizing the same thing. “Viney, is there an exit he can take where he won’t bump into them?”

It was occurring to Viney that maybe their parents really were that intense. “Uh, down the hall to the right. That’ll let you out into the main school building. You can take whatever exit you want at that point. Nothing is locked up just yet.”

Without wasting any further time Ed dashed down the hallway and disappeared from sight. Hopefully he won’t overdo it trying to get back home.

Amity, unfortunately, was clearly in the process of passing out at this point. Or maybe it was fortunate. Viney moved towards the exit. “I’m gonna go bring them in here. Be right back.”

Emira thought very heavily about following Edric on out, but decided to stay. It didn’t feel right to leave Viney or Amity alone with them. It was a matter of moments before Viney came back into the room with Odalia and Alador following right behind her. Odalia’s eyes immediately locked onto Emira.

Emira felt like there was poison in the room as she locked eyes with her mother as they each dared the other to speak first.

“What happened precisely?” Alador was the first to speak up, hoping to keep things on topic.

“Well, a friend brought her in. Apparently it was a Grugby accident.” Viney couldn’t believe how small she felt in front of these two, but she had a duty to inform them of their daughter’s condition. “She’s got a minor-”

Odalia cut Viney off with a laugh. “Oh wonderful! She’s playing Grudgby again! It was such a disappointment when she stopped. She has such a talent for it.”

Emira found herself grinding her teeth at her mother’s excitement. She wanted to scream at her. ‘Why don’t you ask about how Amity’s feeling instead of asking what trophies she can bring home?’

She wasn’t given the chance when Viney cleared her throat and continued like the Blight mother hadn’t even said anything. “She’s got a minor fracture in her foot. She’ll need to stay off of it for a couple weeks. We’ll give her some crutches for when she has to get around, but I would most recommend staying off of it completely for a while. Oh and keep it elevated while she’s resting.”

Alador Blight walked to the bedside and motioned for Emira to move aside. After a moment of debating with herself, she opted not to cause a scene in front of Viney and got out of the way. Once she was moved Alador picked Amity up as gently as he could and carried the sleeping girl with him towards the door. “Take care of the rest Odalia. I’m taking her home.”

“Of course.” She said do him as he left. She then turned her attention to the Healer in the room.

After a moment of Odalia staring her up and down, Viney spoke up again. “There’s some paperwork you’ll need to sign at the front-”

Once again Odalia interrupted her. “What’s wrong with your uniform?”

Viney glanced down at her uniform. Aside from a few rips and tears, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. Then, with a sinking feeling in her gut, she realized. She was asking why it was two track colors.

Emira acted quickly, spinning a circle and causing Viney’s uniform’s right arm to suddenly change to Beastkeeping colors. Odalia’s attention quickly shifted to Emira.

“Why did you have to say something? I almost got the whole thing switched without her noticing.” Emira crossed her arms and pretended to huff. It was the best she could think of on such short notice. She would much rather her mother blame her than go off on Viney.

Viney wasn’t even given a chance to speak before Odalia set upon Em.

“I would have hoped that by now you would have found better things to do with your time than make a nuisance of yourself. But it appears that you will never grow up. People like you...” Odalia clearly had more to say, but upon remembering that there was a third person in the room, opted to stop the berating there. She turned her attention back to Viney. “I apologize for her, she can be something of a problem at times.”

Viney’s eyes kept darting between Em and her mother. She honestly wasn’t sure what to make of any of this aside from being tempted to trample this woman with her griffin. “It’s fine, she’s just having a little fun. We’re friends.”

Odalia turned to face Emira. “So you know each other, then?”

Emira Blight knew that the safest thing to do was lie. If she lied then Viney would be spared further scrutiny and maybe this whole encounter would be over quicker. Just pretend that she had never met this healer before. But she wouldn’t do it. “Yes. She’s a good friend of mine. Is that a problem?” Emira knew she was daring her mother to make a scene.

Odalia gave Viney one more look up and down with clear displeasure on her face. “Not at all. Now, let us go take care of that paperwork. I’m sure we’re all eager to go home.”

Emira stayed beside Viney the whole trip to the front desk, never once taking her eyes off of her mother. Every time Odalia glanced behind her, she was greeted by Em’s glare. At the front desk the Healing Track professor showed Odalia the papers to sign as well as some prescriptions to fill out for painkillers and such. Once they were given the crutches, they were immediately handed off to Emira for carrying.

“I hope Amity has a swift and easy recovery!” The Professor said to the Blights before turning to Viney. “Now Viney I’d like to have a word with you about your performance today.” With that said Viney was pulled away from the others and into an area for Healing Track students only.

Odalia smirked now that she had a name to put to this girl’s face. Viney.

As they walked Odalia finally spoke. “It’s a good thing you were just pulling her leg, you know. There have been some ugly rumors floating around these days about mixed magic being allowed at Hexside. I was almost afraid I’d run into one of those degenerates for myself.”

Emira said nothing. She just kept walking in silence. She had nothing to say to Odalia and certainly nothing about the Dual Tracking.

“You really should be more careful about who you associate with. You wouldn’t want to fall in with the wrong crowd.” She was now daring Emira to speak up and defend herself or Viney.

Emira still said nothing and kept her eyes trained straight in front of her, not even so much as glancing at her mother.

“Smart girl.” Odalia said with nothing but venom in her voice. “Let us get this medicine for Amity and be off.”

Emira definitely did not want to accompany her all that way and actually just wanted to regroup with Ed. Fortunately she knew a good way to wiggle out of this. “All the way to the market? Are you sure you want to be seen with me there? I mean after all you never know when a degenerate like me is going to lose self-control. Why if there was a beautiful woman there I would just-”

“That’s quite enough. Spare me the details. Just take those crutches to Amity.” With a look of disgust on her face, Odalia dismissed Emira who seemed to actually be having fun with this based on the grin she had.

Emira hurried back to Blight Manor only occasionally playing with the crutches as she ran. After all of the running she’d been doing today Emira swore that she’d never run again, even if her life depended on it.

She took the crutches up to Amity’s room where the poor thing was still completely knocked out. She wandered around the room, looking for something to write with, eventually finding a marker on Amity’s desk. Emira carefully moved around Amity to write her name on the cast, being sure to dot her i’s with hearts.

With her mission accomplished she crossed over to Ed’s room and, as always, entered without knocking. She figured that would get her in trouble one day, but until then she refused to learn a lesson. Ed was lying face down on his bed, on top of his blankets. Upon closer inspection he looked terrible. Sprinting all the way across Bonesborough twice had clearly done a number on him.

“You look like you’re about to die. Really sells the idea that you were sick all day today.” She looked down at him and watched as he only moved his head enough to look at her out of the corner of his eye.

“I go for realism.” He said, mostly muffled by his pillow.

“Alright I’ll let you get some rest, but I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page here. We’re going to ruin this Boscha girl, right?” Emira was grinning from ear to ear and her excitement only grew when this was enough to make the exhausted Edric sit up.

“You better believe it. Let’s get to school early and really make this thing pop.” Ed’s eyes were already sparkling and he looked revitalized. Truly the Blight Twins were troublemakers to their core.

“Ugh, you know I hate waking up early.” She huffed and groaned.

“Yeah, but you’ll do it for Mittens.” Ed grinned, knowing full well that she would.

“I hope she appreciates this.”

“She’ll probably yell at us at first, but I think she’ll eventually laugh about it.” Edric’s energy levels seemed to be rapidly dropping back down to completely exhausted. He let out a long, loud yawn which Emira reacted to quite dramatically.

“You smell like sweat and your breath is rancid. You stink inside and out. I’m leaving.” She pinched her nose and headed for the door. She stopped herself just short, one last thing occurring to her. “Oh, uh, did you get any get well soon messages today?”

Ed seemed confused and pulled out his scroll, checking it quickly. “No, it doesn’t look like it. Why? Did you try to send one?”

‘He never went through with it. I’m going to kill that loser.’ Emira thought to herself. Outwardly, however, she scoffed. “You wish. I was hoping that you would be bedridden until your bones dissolve. Good night Ed.”

Ed jerked upright. “Wait, can that happen?”

Emira closed the door behind her as she left, ignoring his final cry. “Em, can that happen?”

=======

Boscha spent most of her morning before heading to school trying to figure out the best phrasing on a message to send to Amity. Nothing she’d drafted so far seemed right. It needed to be that perfect blend of “Sorry I broke your leg” and “That’s why I’m the captain and you’re not”. They needed to keep up their catty rapport, right?

There were also other, more complicated feelings under there, but those were for losers. And if there was one thing she wasn’t, it was a loser. That was the whole point of the game, right? To show everyone who were the losers and who the rightful winners were?

Amity would understand, right? They’ve known each other for years. They even used to play together.

She was so into her own thoughts that she’d even forced Skara away as she headed to her locker. She wasn’t in the mood for hangers-on.

All thoughts on that subject were brought to a screeching halt when she saw none other than Edric and Emira waiting at her locker. In all the times she’d been to Blight Manor she’d never caught more than quick glimpses of them. They never had any interest in spending time with Amity or her friends. They were nothing short of mysterious. And if she was being totally honest, she had more than a little bit of a crush on Edric. And Emira was also nothing short of breathtaking. You know, if she were into that. Which she’s not.

She composed herself as she prepared to impress them. She was the Star Captain of the Banshees after all. It was Grudgby Season. Her season.

“Hey there.” Edric said once he noticed her approaching.

“H-hey!” Boscha cursed herself. What kind of weak first impression was that? She needed to save this. Remember: Star Captain! “What are you two doing here?”

She immediately began to scream internally. That was way too harsh! She needs to be confident, not standoffish. Star Captain!

“We just came to congratulate you on your win yesterday.” Emira leaned close with an absolutely radiant grin on her face. Boscha couldn’t help but stare at her smile. She quickly managed to convince herself that she was only interested in Emira’s lipstick. That’s all.

“Oh, uh, thanks. I mean, I always bring a win.” Then it hit Boscha. She knew why they were here. They were here because of what happened with Amity. “Sorry about what happened with Amity. Grudgby is a rough game sometimes. It was an accident.”

Edric also leaned in, which Boscha quickly realized meant they had her surrounded. For the moment she didn’t care because she had never been this close to Edric’s extremely kissable lips. “Oh we totally get it. These things happen, you know? All kinds of accidents happen all the time.”

“Yeah, and we just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Emira’s look of concern was heartwarming. Boscha could barely believe how fast her heart was pounding. They weren’t mad at her and… were they flirting with her?

“I’m fine.” Those two words were the absolute best her brain could muster right now.

“Good, good. We just got done talking with a friend in the Oracle Track. We just had to see about a reading for you. And well…” Edric trailed off, glancing at Emira to let her finish the thought.

“It said that every single day until Amity’s leg heals it looks like something horrible happens to you. So we just had to come make sure you were alright.” Emira maintained that ever-present smile which nearly kept Boscha from processing what she’d said.

But after a second, it did sink in. “Are you two threatening me?”

Edric stumbled back, feigning shock. “Of course not! We’re just two loyal Banshee fans who wanted to make sure our Star Captain was safe and sound.” The words ‘Star Captain’ were hissed with pure venom.

“It was an accident!” Boscha pleaded before quickly reminding herself. Star Captain. This was her season and she wouldn’t let these two beautiful dolts ruin it for her. “If anything does happen to me, you two are going to be dead.”

Suddenly Boscha understood the true meaning behind Emira’s smile that she’d worn the entire time. It wasn’t a kind smile and it cut like a knife. “That’s if you can ever prove it was us.”

Edric laughed a little. “I mean, we’re not even the real Ed and Em. We’re just illusions.” He was lying, but Boscha had absolutely no way of knowing that as she suddenly stared at them in shock.

“I think this might be a very unlucky couple weeks for you.” Emira began as she moved to stand beside Edric. “But hey, just remember…”

“Accidents happen!” The twins both said in unison before walking away and quickly rounding the corner.

After a stunned moment Boscha ran after them. As soon as she turned the corner the twins were nowhere to be seen. She scanned around, now completely paranoid. She heard someone walking up behind her and without hesitation she took a swing at the person sneaking up on her.

Only to find she’d just knocked Principal Bump to the ground and he was not happy.

“Principal Bump! I’m so sorry! I just-” She was ready to explain what had just happened. Go ahead and cut this off at the pass and tell him that she was being threatened by the Blight Twins.

“I understand that you get a little full of yourself during Grudgby Season, but that does not give you free reign to assault.” Bump pulled himself up and glared at the student in front of him. “I heard that you injured Amity Blight in an unsanctioned, unsupervised Grudgby match. I received the notes from the Healing Ward late last night. This is completely unacceptable and you know it. You are to come straight to my office after classes. We’re going to have a long discussion about your behavior and I may have to put this on your permanent record if it’s deemed serious enough. You’d better hope the Blights are more forgiving than their reputation lets on.”

All three of Boscha’s eyes were showing nothing but pure fear. This was not how her Grudgby Season was supposed to start. She was supposed to be praised by everyone and untouchable. None of this would have happened if Willow had just remembered her place at the bottom.

Bump began to walk away to prepare for the beginning of classes. “Oh and if that swing was the best your throwing arm can muster, maybe we should start tryouts for a new Team Captain.”

“But Principal Bump-” She called out, hoping for one last chance to set the record straight.

“Whatever you have to say, save it for after classes. I’m not quite in a mood for excuses right now.” He didn’t even so much as glance back at her as he walked away.

“But it was an accident…” Boscha said quietly, all of her confidence and enthusiasm completely drained out of her. With a heavy sigh she walked over to her locker and opened it up to retrieve her books.

Instead she was coated with a thick green slime that poured out of the locker’s mouth. She tried to scream but it quickly proved to be a bad idea when some of it got in her mouth. It tasted like ashes and sawdust. But the smell was so, so much worse. She would quickly find her uniform and books completely ruined. And the smell followed her around, even the professors unable to find a way to mask it.

Every attempt to explain her encounter with the twins was met with the same rock solid alibi. Not one staff member came close to believing that the twins would be caught dead at school that early.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This truly is the longest week ever! But "until the end of the week" is finally on the horizon! That being said, I need some feedback on what you guys would prefer. I'm a little ahead and currently writing out the finale to this little "arc" (I feel incredibly pretentious referring to anything I've written as an arc, but hey) and I was prepared for it to be an extra long chapter, but its already at a 10k word count and I'm nowhere near finished. Would you guys prefer for me to just keep going and finish it out with a super, super long chapter or split it up into two long chapters? I worry that with one mega chapter it'll be a pain to read in a sitting. Anyways, thanks as always!


	18. Last Second Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our troublemakers try some last second prep work before the big day.

Once their encounter with Boscha was done for the day, Edric had a singular mission: Find Jerbo and talk to him seriously. It was a task that quickly proved more difficult than he thought. He had no idea which set of classes Jerbo would be attending today. Plants and Abominations were pretty far apart, leaving him with only enough time to check one. Since he had to pick up Amity’s classwork to bring home with him, he decided to double up and check Abominations. 

The Abominations Professor was clearly a big fan of Amity’s diligence since once he got started, he wouldn’t stop going on and on about what an amazing student she was, trapping Edric in the conversation for longer than he’d planned. With Jerbo clearly not present, he found himself getting antsy.

Edric was afraid that if he waited any longer he would lose his nerve. He’d spent all day yesterday trying to prepare himself for this. If he was being honest, he still wasn’t totally satisfied. He wanted to make things perfect. He felt like he had a good idea of what to say, but not a perfect idea of what to say.

He was tempted to skip classes and see if he could find Jerbo out in the Greenhouse, but he was pretty sure that qualified as stalking. Given that the plan was to avoid freaking him out as much as possible, he decided to not go that route.

Instead he decided to head back to the Illusions homeroom for now. He could catch up with him at lunch. Which he really hoped wouldn’t look too much like cornering him. He tried not to think too hard about it. Em was standing around outside the homeroom waiting on her brother’s return. She seemed to be pretty invested in whatever she was doing on her scroll.

“Oh hey. You just missed Jerbo.” She said once she spotted him out of the corner of her eye.

“What? Seriously? I was out looking for him.” Ed pouted. “Which way did he go? Maybe I can still catch him.”

“Just go ahead and give it up. You know they always just say that they know a shortcut then mysteriously disappear. You can look around that corner and he’s going to be long gone.” She finally put her scroll away and pointed towards the same hall Ed had just come from.

Since they hadn’t passed each other on the way here, she was clearly right. “Was he looking for me?”

Emira just grinned from ear to ear. “Oh no actually. He just came by to verify our after-school plans.”

“What?! Why do you have plans with him?” Ed stomped his foot and slumped against the wall.

“Oh, is someone jealous?” Emira leaned in close and couldn’t stop her smug grin. With Edric pouting like this she just could not help but rub it in.

Ed didn’t stop his pouting at all, he just turned his head towards her and shouted. “Yes! Of course I am! I haven’t gotten to see him since last Friday! That’s almost a whole week. You’ve at least gotten to spend some time with like everyone. I’ve been so caught up in my own head that I’ve just been basically all alone.”

It hadn’t occurred to Emira what a hard week this must have been for him. The Dual Track kids were nowhere to be found on Monday, she basically forced him to skip classes on Tuesday where they were stuck in the Owl House and then yesterday he was cooped up at the manor alone all day only coming out for a literal emergency.

All these little moments alone that she’d been cherishing must’ve been tearing poor Ed apart. She briefly thought about cancelling her plans with Jerbo in order to give them some time together, but decided against it. She had to help Jerbo with his pastry based plan because that would mean the world to Ed. He would just need to survive a bit longer. 

Plus the more selfish side of her wouldn’t let her forget that she needed Jerbo’s help and this was the only day left to attempt this crazy plan.

“Well you can see him at lunch. And I can’t talk too much about details but I promise I’m not just spending time with Jerbo to pull him away from you.” She put her hand on his shoulder and tried to get him out of his slump. 

He let out a heavy sigh. “I guess so. Well at least nothing can stop me from seeing him at lunch.”

========

“What do you mean he left classes early?!” Edric was officially freaking out.

Viney tried to pretend like Ed was speaking at a reasonable volume. Lucky for them they were in a loud cafeteria. “He said he had something private to take care of and went to talk to Bump about being excused from classes for today. And he’s not here so I guess he got the okay.”

“Sorry Ed. If it will cheer you up any, we can watch Boscha try to eat with that horrible slime all over her. I can smell her from all the way over here.” Emira grabbed at Edric’s arm and started to pull him over to their normal corner. “We need to brainstorm tomorrow’s prank anyways.”

Em quickly found that her pull was met with resistance. She turned to see Viney holding onto Ed’s other arm, keeping him locked in place. “Sorry Em. Can I borrow him for a minute? I promise you can have him right back.”

“Uh, sure.” Emira was a little unsure what to make of that. “Maybe we should just sit here with you and Barcus. Or maybe we should all go over with Luz. I think she’s a little mopey about Amity getting hurt.”

Viney grinned apologetically. “Actually, I need a private conversation with Ed. We can join you afterwards, wherever you end up.”

“I can’t help but notice we’re not asking Ed for his input.” Edric said completely deadpan.

“Come on, I promise it will just be a second!” Viney begged, though it was unclear which twin she was directing it at.

Upon hearing the cute whining tone, Emira completely lost her grip on Edric’s arm. Unable to properly form words she turned and hurried over to Luz’s table, hoping her face wasn’t as red as it felt. That flight tomorrow was going to be rough.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Viney said triumphantly as she sat back down, motioning for Edric to join her.

“I guess so. Anyways, what’s up?” He said as he sat down across from Viney and Barcus. Barcus was already happily enjoying whatever food it was in the container he’d apparently brought with him.

“Okay I need your help after school today. I was gonna ask Jerbo to help, but apparently he’s busy.” She looked around like she was paranoid they were being listened to, her eyes particularly drawn in Em’s direction.

“What with? I don’t just agree to things without getting information.” Ed sat up straight and tried to look as professional as possible. It was just good business practice.

“Well a while back I told Em that I wanted to take her for a ride on Puddles. And I spent a long time trying to decide when and where I would have my, uh, little talk with her. I decided I wanted to do it when we fly! It would just be the two of us.” By the end of this section of the explanation her cheeks were burning red.

“Aw, that’s so romantic!” Ed’s professionalism went flying out the window.

“You really think so? I was kind of worried it would be too much.” Viney was now suddenly unsure of what to do with her hands. She really didn’t know what to do with this kind of feedback.

“Yeah it sounds great! And if you’re worried about her turning you down, don’t be. I can’t promise any answer, but I can promise you that you’re someone incredibly important to her. So just be yourself.” Ed thought it was absurd to imagine someone like Viney even worrying about that, but wanted to do his part just in case.

“Thanks. I mean it. That means a lot. Of course I’m worried, but these things have to happen, you know?” Viney smiled softly at Ed’s kind words and then switched back to a more determined look. “Anyways, we made plans to take the flight tomorrow after school. I really need a helping hand getting Puddles ready for it in time. Will you please come help me?”

“I cannot possibly put into words how excited and frankly honored I am that you would come to me for this. Yes I will help you. I am so excited to help you.” Ed’s eyes were sparkling at the mere idea.

“You’re awesome Ed! Thank you so much!” Viney was tempted to lean across the table and give him a bone-crushing hug but decided against it for now. “Now, let’s go join the others. You coming Barcus?”

By the time she glanced over at him Barcus had either finished his meal or just put it away and was ready to go, lunchbox hanging around his neck. Ed still couldn’t understand him, but he definitely seemed excited to see Luz.

When the missing members approached, Luz insisted that Viney sit next to Emira, apparently having saved a seat for her. Ed laughed and was fairly certain that had Jerbo been here, she would have done the same to him. Over the course of lunch, they were all regaled with the tale of their amazing Grudgby game. Of particular note to the twins was the fact that Luz was the one to carry Amity to the Healer’s Ward. Ammo for later.

After lunch classes flew by and when that final bell rang the twins did something that they were realizing was becoming more and more common: they went their separate ways. Emira headed off to probably go meet up with Jerbo unless his emergency got their plans cancelled. Edric hung around at the front door, waiting on Viney to pass through.

He saw Barcus come through, who seemed in a hurry so they didn’t get much of a chance to “talk”. Ed was left standing there just long enough to begin sliding into the idea that he’d been abandoned again when Viney finally made it through the front doors. 

“Sorry for the wait! Things were kinda nuts in the stables. Some of the ventilation mesh on the roof was ripped up and some birds and bats got out. We were lucky to catch the ones we did.” She seemed a little winded, which told a whole story in and of itself.

Edric didn’t have any desire to point out that it was probably his fault from that time he and Em snuck into the stables. “It’s all good. I hope everything turned out alright.”

Viney motioned for Ed to follow her as she began walking. “Yeah, it’ll be fine. The Professor is just worried that we might not have the funding to replace the missing animals for a while. Beastkeeping is kind of low on the funding priority list. I wish we could get some of that juicy Grudgby money.”

“That brings up an excellent point. Why don’t you play Grudgby? I think you’d be pretty good at it.” It was easy to imagine Viney being an absolute monster out on the field.

“Nah, it’s not for me. Too many rules. I tried, but it turned out that everything I did was against some obscure rule or something, so I quit. Besides I don’t have that kind of free time if I want to be serious about taking care of Puddles.” She was slowly picking up the pace as they moved along. She was hoping to secretly turn this into a jog since Ed had missed the past few mornings.

Ed found that claim hard to believe since as far as he could tell, Grudgby had no actual rules. “Our parents tried to make me and Em play when we were little. You should have seen Em out there. There was one time where the ball rolled over to her and she stepped out of the way and watched it roll past. They never made her go back after that game.”

Viney had to slow back down to walking pace from laughing. “Oh, Titan! That’s actually incredibly easy to imagine. How about you? How did your Grudgby career come to a tragic end?”

“Well, not to brag, but the only point I ever scored happened to be for the wrong team.” Edric adjusted his hair dramatically as though he were proud of the claim. It earned another cackle from Viney. “Any other sports you tried out?”

“Nope. Really only gave Grudgby a shot.” She answered and after a moment of hesitation continued, “I did try cheerleading for a bit, though.”

“How did that work out?” Ed asked knowing full well that since she is not still a cheerleader, things must have gone poorly. Also he refrained from commenting on how Emira would die if she ever saw Viney in cheerleading uniform.

“It went alright for a little bit, I guess. But then one of the girls had some unkind words to say about me and I kind of started a big fight. A big fight that I won, mind you.” Viney could not help but grin with pride at that last comment. “And that was my first time getting thrown in the Detention Track.”

“That all makes perfect sense. I hope you said something like ‘I’ll see you in the Healing Ward’.”

“I’m not repeating what I said in polite company. Now, let’s pick up the pace if we want to get to my place any time soon.” Without any further ado Viney entered full jog mode. Of course her jog mode was more like a run mode for Ed.

After a longer jog than he’d thought they arrived at what was apparently Viney’s place. It was on the very outskirts of Bonesborough. It was astonishing to him that she made this walk to Hexside nearly every day. It was a cute little house and it definitely felt peaceful being just far enough away from the main city. It was a stark contrast to Jerbo’s cramped place in the middle of the city.

“You know. I’d just assumed you lived out in the woods.” Edric finally said as soon as he caught his breath.

“Oh I wish. Follow me.” She began to lead him around the house, proudly showing off a very nice looking building that was designated as Puddles’. She led him inside where they found the Griffin sound asleep, though she quickly woke up at the sudden extra light and noise.

Puddles quickly scampered up to Viney and began to nuzzle against her. This marked Ed’s first time actually being up close and personal with her and, if he was being honest, he hadn’t realized how big griffins actually were.

He stood motionless for a while, unsure about trying to approach her, not wanting to startle Puddles. Just as he was getting ready to extend his hand out to pet her, she suddenly turned towards him and began to nuzzle against him as well, nearly knocking him over in the process.

After the initial shock Ed was in absolute heaven petting and scratching at this wonderful creature. “She’s so friendly!”

“Ha! If you think that’s friendly, wait until you see this.” Viney headed over to the far wall and, after digging around for a key, began unlocking a cupboard that had very clear signs that Puddles had spent some serious effort trying to get into.

As soon as she heard the cupboard door slide open, Puddles quickly and without hesitation abandoned Edric to hurry over to Viney who had to push Puddles out of the way as she turned around to produce a bag of treats.

She walked over to Ed and handed him the bag. Puddles was very intently watching every movement the bag of treats made. “Okay Puddles, sit!”

As soon as the command was issued, the griffin plopped down as quickly as she could, eyes still locked on the treats. Viney elbowed Ed who was watching closely. “Don’t keep her waiting. Tell her she did a good job and give her a treat.”

“Oh! Good job Puddles!” Edric said as he fished around in the bag trying to find a treat that was a little bigger than the rest. Once he found one he was satisfied with he put it in his hand and held it out. 

When he saw the griffin’s excitement mounting as she moved forward for the treat, it was occuring to him that her beak would be more than capable of tearing his hand off in an effort to get a juicy treat. It was to his great relief that once she was close to his hand she slowed down and very gently removed the treat, quickly becoming ravenous once she was clear of his hand.

“Alright, I’m gonna go get some stuff for cleaning stinky here and I’m gonna tell my mom you’re here. I’ll be back in just a minute. You can give her a couple more treats, but don’t let those big sad eyes fool you. She’s not supposed to have more than a few.” Viney gave her instructions and quickly headed out.

Once inside it didn’t take long to start grabbing cleaning supplies. The real chore was explaining that the guy she’d brought with her was a boy who is a friend and not a boyfriend. And, of course, omitting the last name Blight.

Once she was free of her mother’s scrutiny, she headed back towards Puddles’ abode. She made a quick detour to grab a bag of feed which she slung over her empty shoulder and rejoined Ed and Puddles.

She found Ed holding the entire bag of treats up to Puddles who was ravenously devouring them. Once again he looked at her like a deer in headlights. “I can explain.”

She threw everything she was carrying to the ground and ran over to try to salvage what she could, only to find the bag now completely empty. She glared at him for having clearly disregarded the only actual instruction she’d given.

“You don’t understand! She needed them! And she was so polite!” He did his best to defend himself. If she were to ask if he had any regrets he would absolutely say no.

“Okay I’m going to put down ‘Can’t be trusted with treats’ for Edric.” Viney said with a sigh as she discarded the empty treat bag. She pointed at the bag of feed she had brought in with her. “Your punishment is to haul that feed to the corner over there. I’ll put it up later.” 

Ed walked over to the feed bag and quickly discovered that it was very heavy. At great personal effort he got it lifted into his arms and began awkwardly waddling over to the designated corner with it. Puddles nuzzled against him every step of the way.

“Well, you’ve certainly made a friend. Heck at this point she might be bonded to you instead of me.” Viney was trying to pick up the cleaning supplies she’d tossed to the side and hoping that not too much of it had spilled.

Once he got the feed bag set down he was quick to speak up. “How does the bonding thing work exactly? I’m kind of curious about how Beastkeeping works. I mean I know a lot of it is learning about how to take care of and handle beasts, but what are the magic parts of it?”

Viney laughed as she spun a circle. As soon as she did Puddles hurried away from Ed’s side and stood obediently at Viney’s. “It’s more than just magic. You can try to bond with whatever you want, but if they don’t trust you the bond will just break. Why are you asking? You looking to mix magic, Blight?”

Ed wasn’t sure how to answer the question. He’d never really given it much thought. Illusions had always come pretty naturally to him and he was definitely proud of how good he was at it. But something about working with the amazing creatures of the isles had always appealed to him. And it wasn’t until recently that Dual Tracking was even something he thought was an option. “Uh, maybe? I’m not sure, honestly.”

“Well what kind of experience do you have with handling animals?” She asked, fully expecting him to say none. He was a sweetheart, but he was still a Blight and Blights don’t get their hands dirty.

“Not much. Oh! Uh, when we went to The Knee I caught a bat! I’m not sure what kind it was.” He seemed excited to talk about this bat encounter.

Viney was taken aback. “What do you mean when you say you ‘caught’ a bat? How did you catch it?”

“Oh the cute little thing landed in our camp because I’d spilled some food on the ground. I just sort of walked up to it and after a while it let me hold it.” He was trying to recall in as much detail as he could, but the encounter with the bat had been one of the less exciting things that had happened on that trip.

She was expecting a story about using illusions or traps to catch it, not for Ed to just walk up to it and wait patiently. Every bat she could think of was more than a little skittish, but if you made it clear that you weren’t a threat they wouldn’t fly away immediately. But a wild bat letting a witch hold it? “And you didn’t get bitten?”

“Aw no that sweet little thing didn’t bite me.” Ed suddenly looked sad and a little ashamed. “Em had been making jokes the whole day about how I was the man of the group so I should go out and catch some food. So, when I had this bat with me I started talking about eating it, but I felt so bad about it. I ended up letting it go after Em said I couldn’t keep it.”

“Well that’s very sweet of you. But I just want to say that to be that patient and calm with an animal is pretty impressive. You’ve definitely got that gentle touch. You might actually be a Beastkeeping natural.” She was more than a little impressed. She also hated that she still found herself getting hung up on what she thought the Blights were supposed to be. By this point they had thoroughly destroyed every bit of that notion and it was time for her to drop it.

“You think so?” He suddenly perked up at the positive feedback. Ed was just so easy to read.

“Yeah! If you’re even a little serious about learning any Beastkeeping, I’ll be happy to teach you.” As she spoke, she was moving Puddles over towards an empty space that was clearly for washing her off. Puddles understood what this meant and seemed very resistant to following, but was easily enough pulled along.

“I don’t know. I really don’t think my parents would go for me mixing magic.” He knew they couldn’t hate him much more than they currently do, but he definitely didn’t want to give them any further excuses to lock him up.

“I kinda figured.” Once Puddles was in place, Viney headed to fill up a bucket with water. As it filled Puddles looked pleadingly at Edric. “I met your parents at the ward the other night. I hope this doesn’t come across as rude, but I don’t think I like your mom.”

“Nothing rude about being honest.” Ed said flatly. He didn’t intend to open up that entire can of worms here, but if she wanted to badmouth his parents he wasn’t going to stop her.

“She didn’t seem to like my two color uniform. I don’t know what she was going to say, but Em covered for me and took the blame on herself. Then she started going off on Em.” Viney looked like she was getting upset just recalling it. “I don’t know if she’s always like that or if she was just stressed out because Amity was hurt, but she was being pretty harsh.”

Viney suddenly realized that the bucket was overflowing and turned the water off and grabbed it.

“No offense, but the Blight parents aren’t my favorite topic.” He let out an exasperated sigh. “I hope this doesn’t come across as rude, but I don’t think I’ll be able to Dual Track publicly. But I would love to get to know these critters a bit better.”

“It’s chill. I know I shouldn’t be saying something like this, but your parents don’t have to know. I know I’m biased, but I think it’s important to have some variety to your skill set. If you wouldn’t mind waking up a little earlier, we could meet up for some lessons in the mornings before our jog.” She stood next to Puddles holding the bucket that the poor griffin seemed to be afraid of.

“Wake up even earlier? I’ll have to see how much I think that’s worth it.” He tried to pretend like he wasn’t incredibly excited about the idea as he bounced in place.

“Okay get ready. It’s time for your first lesson. Giving a stinky griffin a bath.” She started pouring the water on Puddles who seemed resigned to this horrible fate.

========

Emira stood around waiting at the market entrance for Jerbo. She’d given him Ed’s number, but not her own which made communication more difficult than it had to be. She was tempted to start walking in the direction he’d indicated when he mentioned that his house was nearby, but decided against getting lost in the city.

Eventually he came running up to her. “Sorry! I lost track of the time! Thanks for giving me the recipe this morning! I got all the stuff so we should be good to go!”

“You have dirt on you.” She said simply as she looked at the gloves he was wearing as well as his shirt.

“I had a project I had to work on real fast. You’ll see.” He motioned for her to follow him. She wasn’t used to seeing him with this much energy. He was clearly very excited about today.

She followed him to the tiny building sandwiched between other tiny buildings. She found it hard to believe that more than one person could live in a space like this. She followed him inside and into his room where he proudly showed off an entire Murderberry bush growing in his room.

“We have a fresh supply of Murderberries so that we can make sure we get good ones.” He very dramatically showed it off, clearly very pleased with himself.

Em was trying not to laugh. “Did you cut out of classes early so you could grow an entire Murderberry bush in your room because I told you Ed likes these tarts?”

Hearing it said out loud made him suddenly incredibly embarrassed about the whole thing. He started to defend himself, but all that really came out was a sigh.

“Don’t get all bent out of shape. It’s sweet. I mean you’ve got it like super bad for him, but it’s sweet.” She walked up to the bush and began to inspect it. “...Did you really grow this whole thing in just a couple hours?”

“It wasn’t easy, but yeah. This was the biggest pot I had, but it's not really big enough for a bush this size. I wish we had an actual yard, because I would love to put it somewhere nearby, but I know a place out in the woods where it will grow just fine. Once we’re done I’ll move it out there.” It wasn’t lost on Emira that when he was talking about these things he spoke with so much more confidence than normal. 

“Okay well, what do you want to get started on first?” As impressive as this was, she was eager to get started. The big day was tomorrow and they had a lot of work ahead of them.

“Let’s get the tarts going first. We can work on the flowers while they bake.” 

He led her to the tiny kitchen which had nearly every available inch of counter space or table top covered in bowls, pots and pans, or bags of flour or some such. As she looked around he was looking at her expectantly.

She realized that he was counting on her to lead the charge here. She’d only attempted to make these once before years ago and it hadn’t really gone well. But he didn’t really need to know that, right? Besides it probably wasn’t that hard to make.

“Oh, uh give me the recipe back. Won’t hurt to look over it again.” She could probably follow the instructions, right? Once she had it in her hands she stared intently at it, trying to memorize the instructions. “Okay, where’s a mixing bowl for the flour and stuff?”

Jerbo looked at the bowls available and pretended to be thinking about which one to use before he chose one completely at random. “Will this do?”

“Sure. All right, let’s get to mixing!” 

They carefully measured the flour and sugar and salt as the recipe instructed. Once that was ready they added eggs and creamer and other wet ingredients, completely forgetting about the butter that was sitting out to reach room temperature.

Aside from the one mistake the instructions were followed very carefully. Very pleased with herself, Emira proudly spoke up. “See? That wasn’t so bad. Now we just have to pull it out in a half hour. We can do the filling and stuff then.”

“Okay, let’s head back to my room. I have all the stuff we need in there.” The two quickly hurried into Jerbo’s room where he had several flower pots all laid out with soil already in them. He happily sat down in front of them and motioned for Emira to join him.

She was hesitant to sit down on his dirt-covered floor, but seeing no other choice, eventually joined him.

“So everything on the isles has some degree of latent magic. Witches, Demons, Animals, Plants, everything. Plant magic is about adding some of your own magic to help nurture plants. They want to use their magic to grow anyways, so we can help them along.” As he explained he spun a circle and after a moment a little bit of green could be seen poking through the soil.

“Is that all? You were right, this is going to be easy.” She smirked and drew a circle of her own. They waited and waited and waited, but nothing seemed to be growing. She groaned and tried again, to the same result.

“Okay, explain to me exactly what you’re doing. I need to know what’s happening.” He looked closely at the pot and then to her.

“I’m just doing what you said. I’m visualising the seed and adding magic to it.” She spun another circle, this time trying a little harder than before.

“Okay that’s not what I said. It’s not about visualising the seed. You want to feel it’s actual magic and connect to that. Here, let’s try to take things back a step.” He reached into a bag of flower seeds and just handed her one. “Don’t worry about trying to grow anything. Just close your eyes and feel it’s magic. Everything has a magic pulse.”

Emira took a deep breath and felt the seed in her hand. This is why Illusions are so much simpler. You’re just using your magic to manifest change in the world around you. No need to connect to anything else. She tried to ignore her own thoughts and focus on this seed. She could feel it in her hands, but she wasn’t so sure about this magic pulse or whatever.

“Any luck?” Jerbo asked hesitantly.

Emira opened one eye partially. “Not with you bothering me.”

“Sorry.” He said sheepishly before covering his mouth.

After another few minutes of sitting in silence she opened an eye again. “Hey, uh, do you have any idea how long it’s been? I forgot to set a timer.”

Panic set in as Jerbo was trying to make a mental note of how long they’d been in here. Surely it hadn’t been a full half hour yet. But they had done a lot of waiting for results. But there was no way… right?

“I would say it’s been fifteen minutes at the most.” He pulled out his scroll and set a timer for ten minutes. If it needed a little longer then that would be fine.

“That reminds me. You know, Ed didn’t get any get well soon messages yesterday.” She opened both eyes and glared at him.

“Ugh, I tried like a million times to find something that didn’t sound creepy and clingy. Nothing came out right, so I panicked and never sent it.” He dropped his head in shame. He already knew she was about to let him have it.

“So are you just gonna show up tomorrow and hand him some tarts and run away without saying anything? I told you already. Getting what you want isn’t about staying safe, it’s about making something happen.” She didn’t dare move from her sitting position with the seed carefully in her hands, but she still tried to point a finger accusingly at him.

“I know! I know! That’s kinda the point of doing something like this. I won’t be able to just run away. I’m trying to force myself to take that chance. That’s why it has to be tomorrow.” He still hadn’t raised his head, but it was clear that he was absolutely trying his best. “It’s just not what comes naturally to me. I’m not that adventurous or exciting. I’m boring.”

“Boring people don’t grow an entire Murderberry bush in their bedroom just to impress someone. Now. I’m going to try to get back to my focus which you have completely destroyed.” She finally closed her eyes again.

After another extended bout of silence she was still unable to really feel whatever she was supposed to be feeling. So she decided to think about this another way. One of the more obscure applications of Illusion magic was to disrupt or detect other forms of magic. She and Ed had used that technique to find Amity’s secret hideout in the library. It wasn’t strong enough to just detect magic floating in the air or whatever, but maybe it would help her make that connection. With her eyes still closed, she made the circle to highlight magic around her. She could sort of tell where Jerbo was in the room as well as some of the more magical appliances, but the plants weren’t giving off anything at all.

There was just too much noise here. Too much other magic. She briefly wondered if her own magic was interfering with the process. Before she could ponder on this too much, Jerbo’s alarm started going off.

“Ten minutes already?” He said questioningly. “Let’s go see how it turned out.”

She set the seed on the floor and hurried to her feet as they scurried into the kitchen. As Jerbo was pulling the tart pastry out of the oven, she noticed the butter on the counter.

“How were we in there that long? Well it’s only a little burnt.” He inspected it with scrutiny. It wasn’t perfect, but not bad for a first try he guessed.

“Hey uh how much butter did you set out to warm up?” She pointed at the butter on the countertop.

He looked at the pastry, then to the butter. “Ugh are you serious? Did we really skip a step?”

Emira pinched off a bit of the pastry and tried it. Her face said everything he needed to know. “Oh yeah, we definitely forgot the butter.”

They quickly threw the first attempt away and started fresh, this time double checking every step of the instructions to make sure nothing was missed. Once again it went into the oven, this time with much less confidence.

Making sure a timer was set this time, they returned to Jerbo’s room. They quickly picked up where they left off, with Emira sitting down on this dirty floor holding a seed. Trying to pick up on her last thought that maybe her own magic was making too much noise, she took a deep breath. She tried to shut out every other thought and every other feeling. Everything that could possibly amplify her own magic.

Once she was as calm as she could possibly be, she felt it. Just a faint hum in her hands. It felt so weak, but it was definitely there. “I think I feel it. It’s really, really faint but I think I got it.”

“Alright! That’s great!” Jerbo cried out and then suddenly tried to speak quietly, afraid of ruining her focus. “Now try to see if you can feel that same thing from inside one of the flower pots.”

Now that she knew what to look for Emira was confident that she could do it. For the first few minutes she was having no luck at all, but she quickly began to learn to filter out noise and really focus. And finally she could feel it. “Okay. I got it.”

“Alright now when you make a circle, you’re not looking to change anything or even add anything. You’re just wanting to form a connection between your magic and the seed. From there all you want to do is help it grow. Like nurturing.” With her eyes still closed she couldn’t see him, but with her focus so intently on the ebb and flow of magic, she could feel his magic as he waved his arms around.

Another deep breath and she spun the circle. Illusions were all about forcing change, but this seemed like it was more about accepting change. It wasn’t an easy change of intent to make, but she finally understood what she was needing to do. She focused on that faint pulse of magic and nothing else as she made the circle. After a moment she could feel its pulse get a little stronger. She kept her eyes shut and simply focused on trying to aid this growing pulse.

After what felt like mere moments, her focus was broken by the alarm going off again. She opened her eyes and when she looked in the flower pot, there it was. It wasn’t a huge blooming flower, but it was a small green point sticking out through the top of the soil. She finally looked up at Jerbo who had both hands covering his mouth to keep himself from breaking her focus.

“I did it!” Emira said, throwing her hands in the air. “You said it was supposed to be easy, you liar.”

“Sorry! It comes more naturally to some people than others.” To demonstrate he spun a circle over one of the pots and in an instant she watched it go from an empty pot to one with a big, blue flower happily growing. In maybe less than a second he had done more than she had managed in an entire half hour. Instead of feeling discouraged, she found herself hoping that she could reach that point someday.

“All right you show off, we don’t have time. Let’s go get that out of the oven before we burn it again.” Now Emira was really fired up. It was time to get this done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your feedback last time everyone! Seems like most people want two long chapters instead of one gigantic one, so 19 and 20 will be bring this long, long week to a close. I don't want anyone to think that I'm talking about finishing up the whole story, because I still have a lot of ideas left and it will take a while to see them all through. So stick around if you'd like!


	19. Live Your Truth, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Talk to our crushes about our feelings Day" quickly becomes "Save our crushes from a Coven Inspection Day"

Friday morning was a whirlwind for the Blight twins, particularly Emira. In his continuing streak of independence, Edric had gone ahead alone which meant that, with no one to force her out of bed, Em was running behind schedule. She’d intended to arrive at school early enough to put the bouquet of blue flowers she’d grown into her locker. Well, she grew a few of them. Jerbo had to help with rest. She didn’t want Viney seeing them too soon. However, she had turned her alarm demon off instead of simply setting it to snooze. While typical, she normally had Ed as a safety net.

Not wanting her parents to see the flowers either, she carefully put them into the schoolbag she rarely carried with her. If they got damaged during the transport she could probably ask Jerbo for help. She wasn’t far enough along to repair damaged plants, but he was. Once she was presentable she hurried downstairs and nearly made it out the door without encountering either parent.

It was when she opened the front door that she heard her mother’s voice. “Good morning Emira.”

“I’m running a bit late. Can’t talk.” She tried to be as quick and sharp as possible.

“I just wanted to make sure to tell you to be on your best behavior today. I happen to have it on good authority that a Coven inspector will be coming by Hexside to investigate these ugly rumors of mixed magic.” Emira turned and saw that smirk she hated so much plastered across her mother’s face. “I hope your friend, Viney I think it was? Yes I do believe her name was Viney. I hope that your antics don’t get her in any trouble. Of course if it’s just a rumor, then there’s nothing to fear, right?”

Emira felt ice run through her veins as today just got a lot more complicated. “Yeah, that would be ridiculous. I gotta go!”

She sprinted towards Hexside as fast as she could. She knew the flowers were definitely getting damaged like this, but that suddenly didn’t feel as important. She needed to get to Bump as soon as she could.

Edric was standing out front clearly pleased with himself as she approached. “Hey Em! I got the Boscha situation for today taken care of. You can thank me later.”

She barely acknowledged him, simply grabbing onto his arm as she ran past and began dragging him along. “We need to find Bump, fast!”

Despite being given no information, Edric joined in the search. Their first guess was his office, but he wasn’t in there, so he must be somewhere out and about trying to get things ready.

They agreed to split up and despite giving it what they thought was a thorough search failed to find him. By this point it was a matter of minutes before classes would start, which prompted them to check his office again.

He was at his desk reading a newspaper. Somehow they must have barely missed him. Upon seeing the Blight Twins out of the corner of his eye he looked preemptively exhausted.

“Principal Bump! This is bad!” Emira began before he pointed to the chairs in front of his desk indicating for them to sit.

“If you two are bothering me this early, I’m certain of it. Normally I have to force you two in here.” He folded up his newspaper and laid it on his desk. “I want to talk to you about Boscha’s claims that she’s being threatened by you two. You don’t exactly have the cleanest record so I have to speak with you about this at some point. Is there-”

“No time! Please listen!” She interrupted, standing up from the chair. “There’s a Coven Inspector coming today. They’re investigating the mixed magic thing!”

“What?!” Both Ed and Bump exclaimed at the same time.

“This is serious. Well as long as we act before they get here-” Bump began but was interrupted by a knock at the door. He walked over and cracked the door open, seeing the cowl of the Emperor’s Coven on the other side.

“Good morning, sir. The Emperor’s Coven will be performing an inspection today. The inspector herself would like to speak with you before we begin.” As Bump looked past this goon he saw a whole swarm of them.

“I’m dealing with a couple of students right now. Give me just a moment and I’ll let her right in.” Bump said sheepishly before closing and locking the door.

“All right they’re already here. Well classes haven’t begun yet, so-” The bell signaling the beginning of classes rang right on cue. “This is going to be one of those days, isn’t it?”

“Maybe we can help!” Ed said standing up in his chair, nearly causing it to fall over.

“Hmm…” Bump looked at the duo and seemed to be weighing his options. There was another, much more impatient knocking at the door. “Alright, fine! I will keep the inspector busy with the longest, most boring and most detailed tour of Hexside I have ever given. You two go find the Multi Track students, all four of them, and bring them to the Detention Track homeroom. You should be safe there.”

“Yes sir! We won’t let you down!” Ed and Em said in unison as they put on their most determined expressions.

“Quite.” Bump said, sounding thoroughly unconvinced. He moved next to the door and began shouting. “Now! Let that be a lesson to the both of you! And so on and so forth!”

He then opened the door and pushed the twins outside. Or at least attempted to. Blocking the path was the inspector, none other than the Coven Head, Lilith Clawthorne. After a glare at the twins she stepped aside, letting them scurry off. 

“You’re the inspector?” Bump said, trying not to laugh.

“Indeed. I may have once been a student in these halls, but I’m duty-bound to give as impartial of an inspection as I can manage. That being said, good morning Principal Bump.” She spoke with an air of cold self-importance.

“Ha! You’re in trouble with the Coven and you’re taking on a scrub job like Inspector to suck up for extra credit. You haven’t changed at all, have you Lilith?” He couldn’t help but laugh a bit. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

“I am not!” She called out in a whine as she stomped a foot. She took a moment to recollect herself and spoke more calmly. “I would advise you not to get on my bad side this early into the inspection.”

“Oh come on Lilith! I’m just joking around. We’re both adults here, we can enjoy a laugh at each other’s expense. It’s not like I’m your stubborn Principal anymore.” He still held a grin but tried to resume a more professional stance before clearing his throat. “Now Lilith Clawthorne, report to my office immediately.”

Completely reflexively she sunk her head and marched into his office. Bump couldn’t help but grin as she followed his instruction. Maybe he could have some fun with this after all.

Once they were both in the office, he sat down at his desk. “Been a while since you’ve been in here, eh?”

She seemed nostalgic sitting in the office. Nostalgic enough to even let out a smile. “Yes it has. And it’s been even longer since I was in here without Edalyn.”

“So, I’ve been trying for ages to get a Coven Inspector to come to Hexside so we could work out some issues regarding funding and I have gotten the cold shoulder at every turn. So you’ll have to forgive a little frustration on my part when there’s a surprise inspection to investigate… What was it again? Some rumor?” He tried to put on his best ‘angry principal’ face and pretended to not know why she was here. Every second he could buy the twins by keeping her in here was precious.

“This is not just any rumor. There’s a very serious accusation of mixed magic being allowed in Hexside. I personally know that you forbid Edalyn from doing so, but people are claiming to have heard about all sorts of things lately. There’s enough reports to reach the Coven’s ears.” She stood her ground against his frustration.

“Well, as long as I have you here, I intend to put you to work. We are going to be doing a full top to bottom inspection. Maybe then we can get some of this funding situation worked out. We’ve almost had as much property damage lately as when you and your sister went here.” Bump punctuated every sentence with a finger pointed directly at Lilith, causing her to shrink in her chair a bit each time.

“That reminds me.” Lilith began, sitting back up once she realized what she’d done. “As long as we have a private moment, I’d like to ask about a different rumor. This is strictly off the record, but I heard the most absurd story that you had Edalyn as a chaperone for Grom!” She couldn’t help but laugh at the sheer absurdity of it.

Bump laughed nervously. “Haha, yes completely absurd! Like I would let a wanted criminal like Eda chaperone one of the biggest school events of the year. Completely asinine.”

“Edalyn.” Lilith corrected. “Her name is Edalyn.”

Bump sat back in his chair smugly, fully aware of the can of worms he was opening. If he could kick back with a glass of Apple Blood, he absolutely would. “I hear she goes by Eda these days. It even says so on her wanted poster.”

Lilith instantly stood up from her chair and began pacing around. “You can’t enable her! She is out there living some kind of fairy tale life in the woods. She can’t keep running away forever! One day she is going to have to come down off of her high horse and join the real world like the rest of us!”

Bump let her go on completely uninterrupted. He could probably just let her ramble on all day, but he didn’t want the stalling to be too obvious. “Lilith I wasn’t paid enough to help you deal with your inferiority complex decades ago and I am certainly not paid enough now. Whatever issues you and Eda have, it has nothing to do with Hexside anymore. We have an inspection to get started on.”

“I don’t-” She started, before deciding to reign things back in. Edalyn wasn’t even here and she was getting under Lilith’s skin. “Very well. Go ahead and lead the way.”

Bump finally got up and led her out into the hallway. The Coven goons she’d brought with her were all huddled around the door, clearly trying to listen in on the drama. They all fell in line right before Lilith made it to the door.

“Okay let’s start in the Healing-” It suddenly occurred to Bump that one of the Dual Track kids might be in there right now. He had no way of knowing where the twins were and so he needed to avoid places that the students in question might actually be.

“I mean the Plant- Er the, uh, oh yes! We should start in the Bard Track wing.” He really hoped that hadn’t been too suspicious. Of course even if it was all he had to do was mention Eda once and she would lose her train of thought.

=======

With the Coven goons all huddled around the office, it was easy work to pick up their first couple of Multi-Trackers. An illusion of Bump was easy enough to make and use to pull them out of classes. Barcus was in Oracle classes and they got lucky enough to find Luz in there with him. They’d thought she would be the hard one to find.

Once they got Luz with them they realized that not only was their group getting too easy to spot, it looked like the inspection had properly begun.

“Okay, we have to be super careful going through here. I’m honestly not sure how we’re going to get to either of the other wings without attracting attention, but if anyone comes close you two hide. We can take any blame.” Edric was laser focused on this mission. He knew exactly what would happen if the Emperor’s Coven spotted the Multi-Track kids. 

“Yeah, we’re already Grade A troublemakers. The only suspicious part would be that we got caught.” Emira gave a smirk and a wink to Luz, hoping to calm the nerves of the others as well as herself.

As Ed began to move forward, Barcus growled, hoping to get his attention. When Ed didn’t seem like he was stopping, Barcus bit down on his pants leg. In the moment of panic it was the only thing he could think of.

Being surrounded by people who couldn’t understand a word he was saying was an everyday occurrence, but it never failed to frustrate. Once he had their attention, he quickly hurried down the hall they had just come from and hoped they would follow.

“Barcus, wait! We don’t need to split up!” Luz called out after him. She found him clawing at a random portion of the wall. Without any of the key chalk to open it the best he could think to do was trace the exterior of the secret entrance with his paws and hope Luz understood.

After a moment, she seemed to understand, pulling out the piece of key chalk Viney had trusted her with. “Are you sure? I know this place is super sacred to you guys. I think we can trust them, but it's not my call to make.”

Barcus simply shook his head, the most universal message he could think of.

Luz smiled at him. That bright earnest smile she always beamed with. “Alright then. Just show me where to draw.”

Edric and Emira both rounded the corner. “Luz did you find him?” They saw Luz and Barcus both huddled on the floor with Luz drawing a chalk square on the wall close to the floor.

Luz simply motioned for them to be quiet as she finished up. They could hear the sounds of footsteps coming towards them. Luz and Barcus didn’t seem worried about it at all. They saw her draw a lock on the square, then press the chalk against it like it was a key. It was small, but the square swung open like a door and Barcus and Luz quickly crawled inside, motioning for the twins to follow.

It took a moment for the twins to fit through the tiny door, but once they did they found themselves in the middle of a great, empty room full of trap doors. The entrances even lined the wall leading up along a spiral staircase.

“Luz, what in the name of the Titan is this?” Ed and Emira asked as they looked around, mouth agape. Where in the school was this? Was that a portal of some kind? Where did all these doors lead? So many questions.

“This is the Detention Track’s room of secret shortcuts. There’s no better way to sneak around the school.” She made a dramatic show of waving her arms around to indicate the whole big room.

“Is this what they mean when they always say they know a shortcut and then disappear?” Ed walked over to one of the doors at random and cracked it open a bit. Inside he saw the Bard Track room. He saw a frustrated Lilith who was sitting through a full scale orchestral demonstration of what the school’s Bard students were learning. He quickly closed it back.

“Yeah, probably. I don’t know where all the entrances and stuff are so I don’t use this place too much.” Luz explained as she was looking around at all the different doors.

“Looks like Bump has Lilith tied up in the Bard Homeroom for now. That’ll give us a bit, but it doesn’t really help with the random goons wandering around.” Ed was now also looking around, hoping to be able to figure which door led to the Greenhouse without opening it first.

“Wait Lilith is the inspector? Like Eda’s sister Lilith?” Luz sounded incredulous as she pulled herself away from her search and hurried over to the door Ed just peeked in to verify.

“Wait, are they sisters? They don’t look very much alike.” Emira casually opened one of the doors to check if led to the Healing Ward. She quickly slammed it shut. It likely got the attention of those on the other side, but she didn’t care so long as it stayed shut. “Ugh, well that was a good reminder of just how good my tastes actually are.”

“What are you talking about?” Luz asked, tearing her eyes away from the door she was inspecting.

“Boys’ locker room.” She pointed to the door she’d just closed as though it were cursed.

Ed scurried over beside her and started to reach towards the door. “Maybe I better inspect. Just to make sure my tastes are still good.”

With a quick spell circle, a lock and chain appeared over that particular door. Edric scowled at his sister. As he walked away to continue searching he mumbled under his breath. “I was just joking anyways…”

Luz laughed at the exchange and decided it was time to get the conversation back on track.

“I think Lilith dyes her hair and stuff, but yeah they’re sisters! Maybe we can trust her!” Luz knew that the sisters had a strained relationship, but Eda’s sister was still Eda’s sister, right? Besides, secretly, she was hoping she could help the two mend their relationship.

“Wow, the head of the Emperor’s Coven and the Owl Lady are sisters.” Ed had never asked what the Owl Lady’s last name was, but he guessed it must be Clawthorne. “Anyways, I don’t think we should take that chance, Luz. She might be Eda’s sister, but she’s still the head of the Emperor’s Coven. Let’s play it safe and assume she’s not our friend.”

Barcus called for them about halfway up the staircase, having found a door that led to the Greenhouse. The only problem was that the door was situated on the Greenhouse’s ceiling. Jerbo’s seat was squarely at the back of the class, directly beneath the door, and he seemed completely engrossed in whatever lecture they were listening to. There was likely no way to pull him up here without drawing attention so they decided that this door was no good for anything other than getting his attention.

“I’ll get his attention. You guys try to find a door that’s nearby and more accessible. Only peek through until you’re sure there are no guards.” Emira ordered as she reached into her bag. The others scattered without any further prompting.

In her bag was the now mostly mangled remains of the flowers she had worked so hard to grow. All of this excitement hadn’t been very good for the poor things. But it was time to put them to work for the greater good. She plucked some petals off and dropped them down directly above his seat. 

Most of them blew away in the completely wrong direction, but a couple met their mark and landed squarely on his desk. He seemed confused for a moment and eventually looked upwards where he saw Emira motioning for him to stay quiet. He was clearly stunned to see her up there.

While he was watching, she plucked another petal and cast an illusion spell on it, dropping it onto his desk. She cheated a little and made it weigh a bit more so that it wouldn’t float away. If she weren’t panicking she would’ve thought to do that to begin with.

He looked at the petal she dropped which had words on it. “Coven Inspection”. On the petal it was hard to read, but once he parsed it he realized what was going on and raised his hand to ask to be excused.

“Lilith is out of the Bard room!” Luz called from her post of watching her. “I didn’t hear where they were headed next.”

“If Bump’s smart then they’re headed towards the Illusions homeroom. That’s the only other track that none of the Dual Tracks are in. Oh, except Construction. Let’s play it safe and assume they’re headed towards the Greenhouse or the Healing Ward.” Edric said as he continued his search for a door that was near the Greenhouse. “Wait, do we even know that she’s in the Healing Ward? She could be in the Beastkeeping homeroom or the stables, right?”

“We’ll figure that out after we get dweebus in here.” Emira finally closed the door she’d been looking through to join the search for a way to get Jerbo inside. 

Luz was honestly surprised at how take charge the twins were in this situation. Sure they were winging it, but they were really good at it. Though she guessed she’d seen them with a plan like this once before. Back at the library. Well at least they were causing trouble for a good reason this time.

While they were searching for a door to get Jerbo in through, they heard one of the doors back on the ground level open up. They all quickly looked over, hoping to see Jerbo and not like a Coven Guard or something. A collective sigh of relief was let out when they saw his messy brown hair.

They all made sure their doors were closed as they went to greet him. Luz was quick to wrap him in a tight hug, with Barcus nuzzling against his leg. The Twins decided to awkwardly hang back.

“A Coven inspection? What’s going on? And Luz, did you let them in here?” Jerbo was clearly freaking out.

Barcus was quick to snap, apparently clarifying the situation. After a moment Jerbo seemed to be calming down at least a little bit. “Alright, I get it. It’s not like you had any other choice.”

Jerbo walked over the far wall and sat down, quickly pulling out his scroll. After a moment of furious typing, he put it away. “Okay, I sent a message to Viney to catch her up to speed. She’ll be here with us soon. We just need to stay put and keep quiet. Every time you open one of these doors, the whole thing lights up magically speaking. If they find this place, we’re done for.”

Emira pushed Edric over towards Jerbo and prodded him with her elbow. After rubbing his side he sat down beside Jerbo. Just like he was afraid of, all the words he’d spent so long practicing just left him. He immediately noticed that Jerbo’s anxiety must be getting the better of him, because he was practically shaking.

“Been a minute, huh?” Was the best Ed was able to muster.

“Yeah.” Jerbo said, before suddenly bolting up. “My bag! I left it in my locker!”

“Your bag?” Ed asked, not sure what the big deal was.

“Yeah! I’ve got something important in there!” Jerbo, who knew exactly which door let out near his locker, scrambled up the stairs and peeked through it. He quickly closed it before groaning in frustration. “They’re doing a locker check. This is overkill for an inspection.”

“Whatever it is, you can get it when this is all over. Don’t worry about it.” Edric smiled at him, hoping to calm him down a bit.

“I know this is selfish of me to interrupt, but I need your help for a second dweebus.” Emira handed her bag to Jerbo, who already knew what was inside.

“He’s not a dweebus!” Ed suddenly called from his spot against the wall. “He’s… just stop being mean to him!”

“I mean dweebus in the most loving way possible.” Emira stuck her tongue out at Ed. “You’ll have to forgive him. He’s had a rough week.”

“I think we could all stand to be in higher spirits right now.” Jerbo opened up the bag and inspected the flowers. “Yikes. These are in terrible shape. I can fix up some of these, but some of them are just dead.”

Jerbo, much to Emira’s chagrin, pulled the bouquet out of the bag and began his work on trying to mend the flowers, despite his shaking hands. From down below Luz started squealing. “Are those for Viney?!”

Emira glared at Luz. “They are not! They are… Ugh, fine I think everyone in here knows anyways.”

“Everyone in here knows what?” They heard Viney say as she was trying to crawl through one of the doors next to Edric. In fact the door had smacked him when it was opened.

Before Jerbo could finish his work, or even get started really, Em snatched the flowers from him and crammed them back in her bag. She knew exactly when she wanted to give these flowers to Viney and right here and now wasn’t it.

“Everyone knows that we’re all here for each other!” She laughed nervously and leaned against the wall, nearly slipping for a moment.

“That’s what I like to hear!” Viney said with a big smile on her face. Teamwork always got her pumped up. “So, um, Em? Ed? Sorry for keeping this place a secret from you guys. We thought about telling you sooner, but it’s just... “

“It’s the only place that’s just for us. And as much as we like you guys, that was hard to give up.” Jerbo finished for her once she trailed off. He’d been mapping out how to have this conversation since he first stepped foot in here, so he knew exactly what he wanted to say.

“It’s fine.” Edric said with a shrug. “I don’t think we can be trusted with this information anyways. Especially with our war on Boscha going on. Wait you said they’re doing a locker check, right?”

Jerbo laughed at Ed’s admission of being untrustworthy. Despite everything that was going on, despite his anxiety absolutely running wild, Ed still found a way to make him laugh. “Yeah, they’re rummaging through everyone’s stuff.”

Edric’s eyes lit up. “Oh man I hope they open her gift from a ‘Secret Admirer’.”

Viney felt a little out of the loop, since she just arrived mid-conversation, but she knew that tone well enough to know that Edric was causing trouble. “What did you do?”

Edric didn’t know if he was allowed to talk about helping with Puddles around Emira. He guessed she would find out about it once this was all over, but just to be safe he decided to be vague. “Are you familiar with spiders?” Maybe that was too vague.

Jerbo laughed again. “I’ve heard of them.”

Viney scowled at Edric. While helping out with Puddles the previous afternoon Edric had accidentally triggered her Spider Breath. It’s a defense mechanism for Griffins and she didn’t much appreciate it being used in some kind of prank war, but she would have to scold him about it some other time.

“I think I’ve given you enough information for now.” Ed said with a smirk. A quick glance up at Emira to see her with the same smirk on her face. When it came to stuff like this, the two could probably switch places and it would be impossible to tell them apart.

“Are you guys bullying Boscha?” Luz asked.

As soon as they heard Luz ask, the twins had a feeling they knew what was coming. Luz was too much of a sweetheart to just let it slide. “Somebody has to.” Emira finally began moving down the staircase to join the others on the base floor.

“I know she’s… a jerk and she’s a bully herself, but doesn’t going after her make you guys just as bad?” Luz looked like she was trying to find the right words here to make her point.

“I’m fine with that.” Emira snapped.

“Yeah, I can make my peace with that.” Ed chimed in oddly happily.

“I’m trying to say that-” Luz started.

“Luz, it’s sweet that you don’t want to see anyone get hurt. Really, it is. It’s one of my favorite things about you.” Em plopped down on the floor against the wall opposite Edric. She wanted to give him his space for now. “But nobody, and I mean nobody, gets to hurt Amity and just walk away from it. Pun only partially intended.”

Viney had not seen this side of Emira before. In a lot of ways it reminded her of the sharpness she’d seen the Blight mother with. Like a knife. The normally calm and endlessly relaxed Em looked almost like a different person with that cold glare on her face, even if it was aimed at no one in particular.

“I guess I get that. I’m gonna go see if I can see where Bump and Lilith are now. How long can an inspection possibly take?” Luz didn’t seem totally satisfied with Em’s answer, but she seemed content to start opening doors.

“It’s not like-” Luz began, before cutting herself off. The door she opened was directly behind one of the guards. She quickly slammed it shut and ducked as though they could see through the closed door.

The voice was muffled, but they could hear the guard through the door. “Hey did you hear something? No, I don’t think that was just me.”

“That was scary!” Luz said as she looked around at the other equally mortified students in the room.

“There!” The muffled voice called out. “I heard a voice!”

With a new fear in their hearts, the troublemakers in the secret room all decided to be as quiet as possible until the coast was clear. With much still left to be said, they hoped that this wouldn’t last much longer.

========

“And that is the entire unabridged history of the Healing Track.” The student giving the presentation took their bow as several classmates applauded. Principal Bump gave his applause as well, glancing at Lilith beside him who looked like she was nearly asleep.

“Excellent presentation. Thank you for your time class.” Bump stood up from his chair quickly enough that it let out a screech, startling Lilith to action. After a moment of dazed confusion, she stood up as well.

“Yes, absolutely wonderful. I see many promising faces in this class.” She spoke with a faux cheeriness that was reserved for speaking down to children.

At the mention of possibly having a chance at the prestige of joining the Emperor’s Coven, a barely hushed excitement swept over the class as Lilith and Bump headed towards the door. Once outside she let out a loud sigh.

“Well, Lilith, did you see anything out of place? Or does Hexside get our perfect score?” Bump grinned from ear to ear. This had easily been the most fun he’d ever had completely boring someone out of their mind.

“I’m happy to say that I did not see anything out of the ordinary.” She stretched and tried to straighten out her back. “I really remember those chairs being more comfortable.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Now, I’m hoping we can negotiate the funding allocations from ‘large’ to ‘unreasonably gigantic’. Glandys got a new track field and I personally think we can do one better. Especially after we humiliate them in Grudgby again this season.” Principal Bump takes his job of making the school the absolute best it can be very, very seriously. Sometimes this means ensuring that their rivals get pushed down into the dirt.

“I’ll see what I can do.” Lilith’s deadpan tone and glare indicated that she didn’t share his enthusiasm. She spun a circle and a piece of parchment appeared in her hands. She appeared to be checking over notes regarding the inspection before letting it disperse. “There’s one last thing I need to check. Records say you have four students currently enrolled in the Detention Track. We’ll need to inspect there as well.”

As far as the formal paperwork went, the Multi-Track students were all listed as being in the Detention Track. Surely by now they must have made it to their secret hideaway. It would raise too much suspicion to disallow the Coven in there so, seeing no other choice, Bump agreed.

“Of course. However, as you can imagine, the Detention Track students are delinquents through and through. I don’t think they even bother to come to school most days. I’d be happy to let you inspect the empty classroom, however.” He said as he began to lead her towards the homeroom.

“That never stopped Edalyn from attending.” She spoke with just a slight bit of pride. Perhaps she enjoyed the notion that her sister was a higher class of delinquent.

“Yes, well lucky for me not all of our miscreants are so dedicated to their craft.”

The walk to the classroom was long and dull as Bump had to listen to goon after goon come and give their status report. The idea that Hexside was crawling with these buffoons made his skin crawl. Poking and prodding and sticking their noses where they didn’t belong. 

With their masks on they all looked like nearly identical faceless hordes, but Bump couldn’t help but wonder how many of them were former students of his. After all Hexside prides itself on producing the best and the brightest and the best and brightest seem to all end up in the Emperor’s Coven.

Eventually they arrived at the door to the Detention Track room and Bump felt a nervous lump in his throat as he pushed the door open and then a wave of relief when the room was empty. “Sure enough, no one here. I’ll need to start looking into what the policies are regarding truancy.”

Lilith wandered around the room giving only the vaguest pretense of performing an inspection. It was blatantly clear, at least to Bump, that she was going down Memory Lane. She’d been like this in a few places on the tour. The Grudgby Field and The Potions Homeroom came instantly to his mind. 

Several snide comments sprang to his mind, but he opted to keep it to himself and let her stumble through whatever memories she was lost in. A few moments later one of the masked guards stumbled through the door, breaking her out of her trance.

“The Locker Check didn’t turn up much, ma’am. The only things of note was a container of Apple Blood hidden in the back of a student’s locker and a box of spiders for some reason.” He said, giving a salute and a quick report.

“You ordered a Locker Check?! Lilith you can’t just rummage through student belongings because of some asinine rumor that has the Coven all up in arms.” Bump gave Lilith his best disapproving glare. “Just what were you hoping to find? Secret notes written by these fictitious magic mixing students?”

“When it comes to a claim like this, there’s no such thing as too thorough.” She glared back at him before turning the same gaze to the guard in the room. “Did you see anything unusual while patrolling?”

“No ma’am.” He said, before nervously speaking again. “But, um, I did hear something. At least I thought I did. I heard a door close behind me when I was up against a solid wall and then I thought I heard a voice coming from inside the wall. We knocked down part of the wall to see if anything was hidden behind it, but there was nothing.”

“You knocked down part of a wall?!” Bump knew exactly what he’d heard and it was time to deflect. “I see the Coven is just intent on throwing its weight around at this point. Should I go contact the Construction Track again and let them help you bulldoze an entire wing?”

Lilith seemed to be ignoring him, gears turning in her head. Something she’d forgotten about. Standing in the Detention Track homeroom after all these years stirred some distant memory. Suddenly she made a long forgotten connection. “Edalyn’s secret room. She told me about it when we were girls. She spent so much time in the Detention Track that she made an entire secret hideaway to cause trouble.” She turned her gaze to the now sweating Principal. “You never found it, did you?”

“Lilith, please if there was any such ‘secret hideaway’ I would have long since dismantled it. You can’t be seriously considering drawing this inspection out just because one of your subordinates is hearing things?” The best way to hide his nerves was to put on his ‘Angry Principal’ face. Luckily the Clawthorne in the room was making that expression come pretty naturally to him.

“If something my sister left behind is being abused by a new generation of delinquents, then it is my job to find it and put a stop to it!” She seemed incensed at the idea of Eda’s work being used by others. Incensed enough to yell at her former Principal. She turned to the guard in the room one final time. “If there’s any Illusions specialists in our group today, you are to bring them here immediately. I! Want! This! Found!”

==========

When Lilith’s yelling began, it was Emira who happened to be close enough to the entrance that led to the Detention homeroom to hear it. Once she heard the muffled shouting, she pressed her ear against the door and listened as closely as possible. While it was too muffled to make out every individual word, she knew exactly what was going on. They were in a lot of trouble.

Em tried to motion for everyone to gather together so they could convene as quietly as possible. “I think Lilith knows about this place. I think they’re about to start looking for it. As long as we don’t open any doors, they can’t find it, right?”

“We should be safe, but I mean it’s not impossible to find. What would we even do, though? We’re cornered in here.” Viney wasn’t usually a pessimist, far from it, but she had no idea how to get out of this. “We just need to stay quiet and hope for the best.”

“Is there a door that leads outside or something? There has to be something we can do.” Edric was trying to keep his voice to a whisper. They couldn’t risk making too much noise with Lilith this hot on their trail.

“There’s a door that leads out back, but there’s nowhere to really go from there. We’d have to go past the Greenhouse and through the Grudgby field to make it to the woods or something. With the guards all over the place there’s no way we don’t get spotted all that way. And if you open one door they all kind of become easy to spot magic-wise, so they’d know where we'd left from pretty quickly.” Viney was also trying her best to think of something, but every angle she thought of all had the same result. If it had just been anyone but Lilith, this would have been no problem.

Jerbo had clearly hit his limit as he just got up and walked away from the group huddle and sat down against the far wall. As he stood up, Viney tried to reach out and grab his arm, to keep him with the group, but he quickly pulled his arm away. Normally she would stop whatever she was doing to help him calm down, but this wasn’t the time to panic. They needed an answer and soon.

Ed, however, couldn’t help himself. He hurried over to Jerbo’s side.

Viney suddenly felt an immense wave of guilt wash over her as she watched someone else console one of her best friends in the entire world when she hadn’t even tried. 

It must’ve shown on her face, because Emira spoke up. “Hey, let Ed handle that, okay? We’re gonna figure this out. Nobody is getting in trouble today. I’m not gonna let that happen. Okay?” She put a hand on Viney’s shoulder, in an effort to comfort her. 

Viney couldn’t help but smile at Em’s words. “Okay. Thank you, Em. Let’s brainstorm.”

Barcus and Luz had separated away from the main group as she was helping him do an Oracle reading of some sort. Without access to a crystal ball or really any of his tools, he was left to try to improvise. Luz was also looking through a pile of glyph cards she kept with her at most times, clearly trying to think of some way in which they could help.

When Ed sat down next to Jerbo, he didn’t receive any acknowledgement at all. Jerbo continued with his head in hands, his whole body shaking. The two sat in silence for a moment before Jerbo finally spoke, his voice a hoarse whisper. “I’m so sorry for dragging you into this, Ed.”

“Hey, you didn’t drag me into anything. I want to help you guys. You’re my friends.” He wanted to place a hand on Jerbo’s shoulder or hold his hand or anything to help him calm down, but decided that, at the moment, it would be best to keep his hands to himself.

“We never should’ve done this. We knew not to mix magic…” Jerbo still hadn’t even so much as looked over at Edric as he muttered to himself. He couldn’t bring himself to do anything but stare at the floor.

Edric had to stop himself from raising his voice. He wasn’t going to sit here and let Jerbo say something like that. “Listen to me. There’s nothing wrong with this. What you guys do is nothing short of incredible. If people don’t like it, then that’s their loss. We’ll be here with you.”

“You’re too nice…” Jerbo said, finally managing to look at Edric, even if it was only out of the corner of his eye.

Emira and Viney’s brainstorming session was a total dead end. Without the ability to open the doors to check they were left to assume that any exit would have a guard in sight. This hideaway was supposed to be a safe place, but they now felt well and truly trapped.

“I guess we’re really just stuck here until they either give up or until they find us. Whichever comes first.” Viney slumped back and got ready to accept either fate.

“What if you call Puddles to wait outside the back door and then you all hop on and fly away before they can even see you?” Emira was at the end of her rope trying to find some answer. She wasn’t going to accept anything else.

“A griffin will definitely attract attention. And I don’t think they would hesitate to bring her down with us on her.” Viney was visibly upset at the mental image of Puddles being forced to the ground like that.

“There has to be something. Ed and I are the top of the Illusions Track. There has to be some way we can help. I’m not going to let-” Emira had to stop herself because she could tell she was getting louder.

“It’s sweet that you want to help, but you and Ed should be looking to protect yourselves. If they do find us, you two are going to be in serious trouble just for being in here with us.” Viney smiled at the disheveled Em. “I don’t have any regrets, you know. No matter what happens, I got to be myself and do what I wanted to. Even if we go back to the Detention Track after this, we really did do it. We made it this far. I even got to spend some time with you.”

Emira suddenly hated how final this was all sounding. Today was supposed to be a beginning, not an ending. She wasn’t going to let it be an ending. She couldn’t let it be an ending. “I couldn’t care less about protecting myself. I want to protect you. You aren’t going back to the Detention Track or anything. Besides, I was promised a flight on Puddles and you aren’t backing out now.”

That last part made Viney laugh. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Since she couldn’t do much to help Barcus with his Oracle work, Luz made the decision to camp out next to the door that had Lilith just on the other side and sit with her ear intently pressed against it. She needed to know what they were up to. She could hear the sounds of chairs being moved aside and general force being used to search the room. She was relatively confident that they wouldn’t be able to find this place by force, but as long as someone like Lilith was in there they were far from safe.

Suddenly getting an idea, Luz covered the door and the area around it in plant glyphs. If they did open the door, the impact would activate the glyphs and give everyone inside a precious second to possibly escape or something. Anything. As this little project was nearing its conclusion, she heard someone talking.

“There’s some kind of magic coming from the chalkboard. We’re currently investigating.”

Suddenly Luz decided that the job she’d done covering the door was good enough as she scrambled over to tell the others. “They’re investigating the chalkboard. I’m not sure how long we have.”

Emira looked more stressed out than Luz had ever seen her and Viney looked weirdly calm all things considered. Barcus was snapped away from his work and scurried over to join the others, his ears drooping low. Whatever he’d seen in his readings, it must not have been promising.

The real problem, however, was Jerbo. As soon as he heard Luz’s words, whatever calming Edric had managed was easily undone. He couldn’t stop himself from crying out. “No! No! No! No!”

Before anyone could even process it, a voice could be heard on the other side of the door. “I think I heard a voice!”

Viney rushed over to Jerbo’s side, with Barcus shortly behind. By this point he was hyperventilating and shaking violently. She put her hand on his shoulder as gently as she could possibly muster. “Come on, deep breaths, okay? It’ll be alright…”

He tried for calm, smooth breath but ragged gasps were the best he could muster in his current state. Edric had no idea what to do other than stay out of Viney’s way and pay attention.

“You’re doing just fine. Try to follow my count, alright? 1, 2, 3…” She took breath in as she counted and held it for just a moment before resuming her count on the exhale. “4, 5, 6.”

She repeated this several times until Jerbo was following along with her breaths. While time was definitely a factor, Viney didn’t once rush or hurry. After a few more minutes, Jerbo seemed to be calming down to an at least coherent level. 

“Th-thanks you guys…” he said, his voice trembling.

“Hey, it’s no big deal. Troublemakers gotta look out for each other.” Viney said with that smile that only the leader of their little group could possibly muster at a time like this.

As they huddled together, Ed tried to make sure he was far enough away to let them have their moment. To his surprise, Viney reached out and pulled him into their huddle. She used a free hand to motion for Luz and Emira to join.

Luz grabbed Emira’s hand and forced her to come along as they all shared a big, admittedly kind of sweaty, group hug. It was strange to be cornered by the Emperor’s Coven and still find themselves feeling like maybe there was some way that everything would be alright, so long as they all had each other.

Once they broke the embrace, Jerbo looked sheepishly at Viney and Barcus. “I’m sorry. I know this is selfish to ask after everything you guys have done, but can I have just a second alone with Ed? It’s important.”

“Yeah, no problem. I think I need a minute myself.” Viney said as she stood up and pulled Emira along with her.

Jerbo was still shaking and his voice was still unsteady. “Ed, I don’t know what happens next. I wish I did. And you’ve been an amazing friend. Someone who’s really become important to me, in a lot of ways. And since this might be my last chance, this is important to say. I, uh, boy this is still hard, huh? I-”

Ed listened intently and patiently as Jerbo stumbled around his quivering words but at that mention of ‘last chance’ he suddenly felt something swell inside of him. “Save it.”

“What?” Jerbo was taken aback. “This is important, Ed. And I’m not going to get another chance-”

Ed stood up and grinned that devious grin as he offered a hand to help Jerbo stand up. “Yes. You will get another chance. I’m going to make sure of it. I’ve got a plan.”

Once he pulled Jerbo up the two were standing face to face. Edric gave Jerbo’s hand a gentle squeeze before letting go and hurrying over to Viney.

It seemed like the twins were on the same wavelength as Emira was already on her feet with the same grin. If there was no way to get out of this without causing trouble, then maybe the solution was to cause a little trouble.

“Tell me all about it on that ride, alright?” She said to a confused Viney. “You can pick me up at 4 outside the Bonesborough Library.”

“Viney, is there a door that leads straight to Bump’s office?” Edric asked. He was being deadly serious but it was hard to take him too seriously with that grin plastered on his face.

“Yeah, but as soon as you open it, they’re going to find this place.” She was sure that she’d explained this to him by now.

“Yeah, that’s fine. We’re going to provide a distraction and you guys are going to get out of here. Whatever trouble we get in is nothing next to what you guys are up against.” Ed explained, with Emira mirroring his stance.

“I don’t know about this. I don’t want you guys getting in trouble either.” Viney seemed apprehensive, but the Blight Twins were definitely no strangers to trouble.

“Aw, that’s so sweet. She’s worried about us. Well, you’ve got until 4 to figure out how to make it up to us.” Emira was perhaps more nervous than she’d ever been in her life. Well, it was definitely second to dealing with her parents. But somehow, she was able to keep from letting it show. She didn’t stumble her words, she didn’t trip over herself. She knew this was the moment to step up. To protect her friends.

Viney led the twins up the stairs to the door that led to Bump’s office. “I really hope you know what you’re doing.”

She then called for everyone else to join her as they got near the door that led out back. Jerbo tried to object to the idea of the twins doing this by themselves, but they would have none of it. Edric wouldn’t even let him finish a sentence.

“Let us get started. You’ll know when we’ve got their attention. Then, get out of here.” Em issued the order to the increasingly nervous Multi Track students.

“Em, are you ready to get into an incredibly huge amount of trouble with me?” Edric said, already knowing the answer.

“I was starting to think you would never ask. So what’s the plan?”

“How good is your Bump impression?”

“Better than yours. You’re still a terrible actor.”

Without any further banter, Edric opened the door and hurried through. As soon as it was opened the students still inside could hear the sounds of the Coven being alerted to the presence of the secret room. They still held up and waited for the twins’ signal.

Wasting no time inside his office Emira spun a circle and gave speaking a test to make sure her Bump was as good as she remembered. “Ah, I love class and rules. I’m the most boring witch alive!”

It was a flawless Bump impression. As she got ready, Edric grabbed the demon that connected to the school’s intercom system and got it ready. Inside the school the sound of the intercom turning on echoed through the halls.

“Attention Hexside! My name is Principal Bump and I smell like stink. I love nothing more than long, boring days at school.” The principal’s voice filled nearly every room in the school. “And today I would like to thank our special guests: The Emperor’s Coven! They came all the way here to smell my stink. Be sure to give them a round of applause, everyone!”

In the Detention Room Bump and Lilith stood speechless. At first she’d been laughing, but as soon as the announcement began to make fun of the Coven, she was far less amused. Bump turned to her. “Quickly, to my office!”

As they ran through the hallways, the announcement continued, only the voice quickly changed to the familiar voice of Edric Blight. “That was perfect! I can’t believe getting them here was this easy. Let’s bail before they get back.”

Bump threw open the door to his office, only to find it empty with the intercom still left on. He turned it off and scanned around the room, to see where the perpetrators could be hiding. Lilith spotted it even before he did. A small door on the wall, seemingly leading to nowhere, carelessly left open.

The Coven Head wasted no time scrambling inside, struggling to fit through the small entrance. But once she did, she found it. Edalyn’s secret hideout. And inside she found the familiar faces of Edric and Emira Blight. “So, this is what this place has been reduced to? A quick escape for a couple of miscreants?”

At her order, the twins were filed back out into Bump’s office and sat down in the chairs in front of his desk. A familiar place for them.

“How dare you two go to such lengths to humiliate me when a Coven Inspector is here. You are in a lot of trouble, even if you are Blights.” Bump looked furious and honestly the twins couldn’t tell if he was acting or not.

“What did you mean that ‘getting them here was this easy’?” Lilith inquired, her anger very, very genuine.

“We made up the rumor about mixed magic. Bump got us in trouble for skipping classes so we wanted to embarrass him a little bit. It’s easy for a rumor like that to spread to the Coven when we’re the ones spreading it.” Emira was a fantastic liar and though she was delighted at how well everything seemed to be going, she didn’t let it show, feigning shame.

Lilith’s face suddenly flushed red with embarrassment. The Coven strung along by a couple of troublemaking teenagers? She looked ready to explode on them when Bump spoke up.

“Lilith. Let me deal with these two. I told you the idea of mixed magic at Hexside was nothing but an absurd rumor. If you’re already in trouble with the Coven then they don’t need to hear that you spent all day chasing a rumor spread by teenagers. In exchange for keeping this between us, I trust Hexside will be looking at a reasonable budget?” Bump turned his gaze towards Lilith and grinned as though he’d just won a championship.

“Fine. I will report back that nothing of note was found. However, before I go, there is one thing I cannot allow.” She glared at the twins one last time before turning her glare on the door leading to the shortcut room. With the spinning of a circle, the door slammed shut, it’s outline glowing bright blue. After a moment, it disappeared. “There. Now my sister’s handiwork can never be abused by rabble rousers again. We will take our leave now. Oh yes and I hope the Blight Twins realize that your family name won’t protect you if you pull something like this again. I will have my eye on you.”

As she headed out the door, Bump called out. “I’ll send you an invoice for the property damages!” He then walked up to the door and peeked out, making sure Lilith was gone. Then he turned to the twins with a grin on his face. “Excellent thinking! Oh, this has been one of the longest days of my life.”

“You’re not mad?” Edric said, having completely bought his furious glares earlier.

“Oh, I’m livid! But I’m also proud! You two have done an excellent job of protecting your fellow students. You demonstrated nothing short of heroism. However, you also made an incredibly public spectacle out of it, so I have to give you some punishment. You two will be joining our prestigious Detention Track. For at least the rest of today. And, I don’t know, after school clean up duties for a month. Listen, it’s been a long day and I’m tired.” Bump walked around as he spoke at least until the end where he nearly collapsed in his chair. With a lazy spin of his finger the Twins’ uniforms lost their blue color and became the dark grey of the Detention Track. “Oh and it's a bit of a mess in there right now. Clean it up while you’re in there.”

Ed and Em did as they were told and headed straight for the Detention Track homeroom. It seemed like they had provided enough of a distraction for their friends to get away safely.

“All things considered, I expected that to go worse.” Edric laughed.

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure if we could count on Bump, but he really saved us, huh? Maybe he’s not so bad after all.” Emira pushed the door to the Detention Track homeroom open and saw every piece of furniture in the room flipped over or upended. “Or maybe he’s the worst after all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! This and chapter 20 took me roughly a whole month to hammer out. Since they were originally intended to be a single gigantic chapter, 20 will go up in a couple days instead of waiting a full week. I'm very excited for that one!
> 
> Also as long as I'm here I guess I'll throw out a bit of trivia! In the earliest drafts of the idea for a chapter dedicated to dodging a Coven Inspection, it was originally the Emperor doing the inspection. I mostly wanted an excuse to do two things: 1. Have fun with Belos' self-important dialogue and 2. Have an excuse to let Bump smart off to the Emperor.
> 
> I decided that this wouldn't be enough to drag Belos out of the castle and figured I could have more fun with Lilith anyways!


	20. Live Your Truth, Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revelations and Relationships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100k words?! How on earth are any of you still here?

There was only about an hour or so left in the school day so they really didn’t give cleaning up their absolute all. Of course, Emira had no plans on actually cleaning up anyways.

Edric was in the process of trying to flip over an upturned desk when he felt a message arrive on his scroll. He finished his work with the desk before checking it. It was from an unknown sender.

“Hey, Ed. This is Jerbo. I can’t possibly thank you guys enough for everything today. You’re absolutely amazing, but I think you already knew that. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I’d like to talk to you in private. Can you possibly come by my place?”

Edric stared at his scroll in shock. How? When? His eyes snapped over to Emira who was on her scroll instead of making any effort at cleaning.

“You!” He yelled as he pointed at her accusingly. She didn’t even so much as glance up at him. “You traitor! You gave him my number!”

“Oh, did he finally message you? About time. You’re welcome, by the way.” Emira still didn’t look up from her scroll, but she couldn’t hide her grin.

“How long has he had it?” Edric still glanced at the message in disbelief. “I can’t believe you gave him my number and just never told me.”

“And ruin all this wonderful drama? Are you joking?” She finally looked up from her scroll. “This has been a delight to watch.”

“Well I’m glad I could entertain. You think Bump would be mad if we headed on out?” As he spoke Emira was already in the process of getting up.

“I don’t care if he gets mad or not, I was already planning to head out. I need to get home and get a shower in before 4 and see if I have even one presentable flower left.” She held up her bag and shook it lightly. 

“Is that what you went to Jerbo for? To get him to get you some flowers?” Edric reached out towards the bag, hoping to get a better look at the flowers, but Em snatched it away before he could touch it.

“For your information, I grew these myself.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “I guess you wouldn’t understand the concept of a thoughtful and personal gift.”

“You?” He said with a laugh. “You grew something? I actually don’t believe you.”

“Well it’s lucky for me that I don’t actually have anything to prove to you, because otherwise I would waste a bunch of time trying to show off.” She began to head towards the door, but suddenly whipped her head around for one last smirk. “But I totally did and I’m basically amazing.”

“Whatever! I’ll grill you later!” Ed called out, sticking his tongue out at her even though she was already gone. He was now sitting in the middle of the floor in a mostly destroyed Detention Track room staring at his scroll.

Most of his drafts included jokes about what a great hero he was or simply brushed it off as though it were nothing. After far, far too long, Ed simply sent back “Sure”.

The door opened and Principal Bump stepped inside. “Kind of amazed you’re still here. I figured you would have left by now.” He noticed that it was just Edric in the room. “Huh. Strange to see one without the other. Anyways, classes have been dismissed so you can leave.”

Bump spun a circle and Ed’s uniform turned back to its normal Illusion Track colors. He was kind of surprised at how much more comfortable he was with just a simple change to familiar colors.

“Um, are our parents going to hear about what happened today?” Edric asked as he finally stood back up.

“Oh right, I should probably file a report on the incident. Of course, your parents would hear about it. Although…” The principal trailed off and smiled. “It’s been such a long day, let’s just say that filing a report slipped my mind. And it will slip my mind again tomorrow. The day after isn’t looking too good either. I must be getting forgetful in my old age. And with Lilith feeling embarrassed about the whole thing, I doubt she’ll report anything other than a clean inspection.”

“Thanks. You know, I really thought you hated us. But I guess you’re pretty cool after all! You’re probably like my second favorite old person!” Edric spoke with a disgustingly earnest smile on his face as he scurried out the door.

“I should have expelled the both of them.” Bump said with a sigh as he looked at the room that was barely cleaned at all.

========

Edric was tempted to sprint all the way to Jerbo’s house, but frankly he was tired of sprinting around Bonesborough lately. He spent the walk more calm than he thought. Every time he’d thought about this, where it was time to finally have this conversation, it was nerve-wracking and fear-inducing and well at least a little sweaty. But something about this casual stroll through Bonesborough was relaxing. Maybe it was just because the day had been more than a little bit stressful.

Of course that all changed once he actually arrived at Jerbo’s place. As he felt his stomach rolling over with nerves at least this was going more like he’d imagined. For better or for worse.

He knocked on the door and waited for some kind of response from within. A few seconds rolled by, which was enough to convince Edric that he was at the wrong house. Maybe it was one more down? His scroll went off with another message from Jerbo. “If that’s you knocking, come on in. I’m in my room. If it’s not you knocking, then I’m not answering it.”

Edric opened the door with as much care as possible, as though it were made of solid glass and closed it with just as much caution. He took a deep breath as he walked down the hallway and approached Jerbo’s room, releasing the breath in time with turning the doorknob.

Once inside he saw Jerbo sitting not on his bed, but beside it as one of the small plant abominations was pouring dirt from a bag onto him. Both Jerbo and the abomination stared at Edric for a long moment, though the abomination did not stop pouring the dirt.

“Uh, thank you abomination! I feel much better now!” He said, standing up and brushing as much of the dirt off of himself as he could. The little abomination seemed pleased with itself as it set the bag down and climbed back into an empty flower pot, quickly returning to being an ordinary flower in a pot.

Ed couldn’t help but giggle a bit at the dirt covered guy in front of him. “You really look like you’re in your element.”

“Uh, yeah. They try to help out in their own way.” Jerbo looked incredibly embarrassed to be seen like this. “I promise I don’t just sit around in dirt all the time.”

“No, no it’s a good look for you.” Edric smirked as he walked over to Jerbo’s bed and sat down. “So, you said you wanted to talk to me? Which honestly works out great because I’ve been meaning to talk to you too. I’ve been trying all week, but you’ve been a hard one to get a hold of.”

“Yeah, this week has been a little wild. Oh, uh I actually have something for you.” He got up and grabbed his bag which had been carefully placed on top of his desk. After a moment of digging around he cautiously pulled out a container with what Edric instantly identified as Murderberry Tarts inside. “I made these while you were out sick. Just a little something for when you got to feeling better.”

Edric stared at the container he’d just been handed. Words had completely failed him. He just kept staring at them, not even bringing himself to open the lid yet. Finally he looked up from the tarts and at Jerbo, his eyes nearly welling up with tears. “This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

Jerbo suddenly didn’t know if he should laugh at the dramatic reaction or try his best to console Ed. “Um, it’s really no big deal! I hope you like them. Emira helped me with them, but we messed up the first few. We also might have ruined a few of them getting a little carried away with taste testing.”

“Yeah I noticed that she was spending time with you. I’m still mad that you got my number from her instead of just asking me. I’d have been happy to share it with you. Heck, I tried to give it to you back at Grom.” Ed finally opened the lid and immediately smelled the wonderful treat. They were all crumbling at least a little bit.

Jerbo couldn’t stop himself from peering over at the tarts to make sure they were up to snuff. “I think they got roughed up a bit during the locker check, but they should be fine. And sorry for not just asking you. It kinda ties into all this mess that I want to talk about.”

While their mother always insisted that the presentation of food was perhaps even more important than the flavor itself, Edric Blight couldn’t help but think that even if these had been smashed to pieces they would still be the best tarts he’d ever eaten. All that was left was to actually try one. He found one that was more intact than the others and took a bite. Sure enough, it tasted absolutely wonderful. 

“They’re amazing! I’m guessing the fact that these just so happen to be my favorite treat isn’t a coincidence, is it?” Edric had a bad habit of talking with his mouth full when he got excited and these tarts were no exception.

“No, Emira told me. She’s actually fun to hang out with when she decides to stop being… difficult.” Jerbo spent the whole time trying to figure out what to do with his hands. After handing the tarts to Ed it felt like there was nowhere to put them. Patting his leg, putting them behind his back, sitting on them, it all felt wrong. Like there was nowhere “correct” for them to go.

“Wow, you got her to stop being difficult? You’re gonna have to tell me your secret.” Edric smiled as he happily ate away at his treat. It was such a simple gesture, but he couldn’t possibly put into words how happy it made him. It was something so warm, so kind, so genuinely Jerbo. The boy who practically invented an entire branch of magic just so he could make sure his plants were happy and healthy.

“Ha ha yeah…” Jerbo suddenly felt his blood run cold. ‘Tell me your secret’ was why he brought Edric all the way here. He wished he could summon that same courage from earlier. Where he thought that he wasn’t going to get another chance to say what he wanted to say. This was a much better time and place, so why was it so difficult now? “So, what did you want to talk about?”

Ed finally stopped eating and wiped his mouth clean of crumbs and filling. “You called me out here to talk, so you should go first.”

“Ha ha! No, I insist! I-I promise we’ll get to my thing afterwards!” Jerbo wished he could just find something to do with these darn hands! It was so hard to focus when everything he did with them just felt wrong.

“Fine, but I’m going to hold you to that.” Ed put the lid back on the container of tarts. If he didn’t stop himself he would probably eat them all here and now. “Okay, so I guess the first thing is to confess that I wasn’t actually sick the other day. I was just trying to figure some stuff out so I faked being sick to give myself some time. It’s something I’ve been nervous about for a while.”

“It’s hard to picture you getting nervous. You’re always so calm. Even back there where we were cornered by the Emperor’s Coven of all people, you stayed so calm and cool. You even really saved us. Which I couldn’t possibly thank you enough for.” Jerbo was once again entering his more withdrawn mode, looking away and starting to get quieter. “Viney talked about us getting sent back to the Detention Track but I think she was just trying to keep me as calm as she could. We all know what the real penalty for mixing magic is. We’d have been expelled at best. Sent to the Conformitorium at worst.”

Edric was silent for a moment. He could see the fear on Jerbo’s face, even as he tried to hide it. He knew exactly what the fear of the Conformitorium felt like. He thought about telling him that, but didn’t want to make this about himself.

“So, are you going to stop?” Ed put a hand on Jerbo’s shoulder, trying to be as gentle with his touch as he could. Jerbo flinched slightly at the first touch, but seemed more relaxed after a moment. “I know that hanging over your head is terrifying. I would never ever want you to stop, but I understand how a threat like that could be too much.”

Jerbo didn’t move an inch. He didn’t even appear to be breathing. It was a long, tense silence. Finally he let out a breath. It took several attempts to speak. A few false starts. But finally he did it. “No. It’s scary, but I’m not going to stop. I-I don’t know if I would have had the courage to pick this before meeting you, but I have it now. You… You’ve been so amazing and supportive. Thanks to you I really feel like what I do is something special. And I don’t want to stop doing it just because I’m scared.”

Ed gave that shoulder a squeeze and laughed. “This is why I couldn’t compete with you, even if I wanted to. You’re completely unstoppable! You’re such a good guy with a big heart and so, so much more courage than you think.”

“Says the guy that took the heat off of us just because he could. So, what could possibly make the Edric Blight nervous?” Jerbo finally made himself look over at Ed. He was tired of trying to avoid that brilliant smile.

“I’m honestly not sure where to start. I, uh, There’s this, uh.” Edric suddenly removed his hand from Jerbo’s shoulder and began nervously bouncing a hand against his knee. He took a breath and tried again, despite Jerbo’s smirk at finally seeing Ed sweating a bit.

“There’s something that I haven’t told you yet and it’s something I worry could affect our friendship. I guess it’s a big part of why I think you’re so incredible. Even with something like this breathing down your neck you’re not afraid to be yourself. I guess I’m afraid of being myself too visibly. Too many judging eyes and too many listening ears. I’m not sure I’m as brave as you are, but I’d like to try.”

Jerbo was taken aback to hear Ed speaking like this. In their conversations he’d heard bits and pieces of vulnerability from the Blight, particularly when their parents were brought up, but it was always swept away with a joke and a smile. This was different. This was serious.

“Ed, I don’t think there’s anything you could say that would hurt our friendship. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t be yourself around me. You’ve done so much for me, so at least give me the chance to do something for you.” Jerbo still wasn’t sure what to do with his hands. After all this he still wasn’t sure where they belonged. He decided to mimic Ed’s gesture from earlier and placed one on his shoulder. Hopefully it helped.

“Thanks. I can’t say how much that means to me. Okay, here goes!” Edric closed his eyes tight. Every time thoughts of this conversation drifted into his head, one image vividly came to his mind. His mother’s face twisting in disgust when he first told her of his preference. As casual as he’d tried to be about it, saying it to Luz not that long ago had caused that horrible image to resurface in his mind.

And here it was again, as clear as day in his mind. Rejection and isolation were far and away what Ed feared most and it might not have started on that night, but it certainly had agitated it.

“Ed, come on. I’m here for you.” Edric couldn’t keep his eyes shut when he heard Jerbo’s voice, worry seeping into his words. Seeing those brown eyes filled with concern calmed him.

“Sorry.” This time Ed didn’t close his eyes. His mother could make whatever faces she wanted. It was time to do what needed to be done. “I like guys.”

Jerbo wished he was as smooth as Ed. He probably would have been able to make some clever joke or know just what to say. As a million different sentences rushed to be the first out of his mouth, all Jerbo ended up saying in actuality was “What.”

Edric stood up from the bed and laughed nervously. Sure, it wasn’t the hateful response he had feared, but this was definitely a reaction he didn’t know how to interpret. So he chose to interpret it the way that was safest: poorly. “Sorry if it, uh, makes you uncomfortable. I can-”

“No!” Jerbo called out as he attempted to stand up as well. He, however, stumbled over his own feet and slipped to the floor. He quickly got himself up as Edric looked at him in confusion and maybe a little amusement. “Me! Me!”

As Ed stared at him in confusion, Jerbo silently begged words to cooperate. “Me, uh, me too! That was, um, actually what I was wanting to talk to you about.”

Now it was Ed’s time for confusion to rapidly transform into amazement. After a moment he moved back to the bed and sat down again, now laughing heartily. It all seemed so silly, dancing around each other like this for so long. Jerbo couldn’t help but laugh a little too, though nowhere near as loud or vibrantly as Ed.

As Ed laughed, Jerbo felt a surge of warmth in his whole body. There was a chance! He had a chance! Feeling strangely emboldened he decided to take his shot. After all, Ed had just poured his heart out, so it was time to do the same. “So is there anyone out there you’ve got your eye on?”

Ed’s laughter died down, but that smile remained. Jerbo couldn’t help but think back to every time he’d been told that the Blight Twins only smile when trouble strikes, but nothing in this world made him as happy as seeing it.

“Yeah, there’s a guy I have my eyes on. He’s sweet and kind. He’s got the biggest heart you’ve ever seen. He’s nervous and clumsy but also brave and strong. I look up to him in a lot of ways.” Ed had one eye closed but the other was open and trained on Jerbo as his words dripped with a charming smugness.

Jerbo, however, felt like he was sinking in mud. Whoever this was, he sounded like someone that he couldn’t ever hope to compete with. Someone who had taken Ed so wholly.

“And I found out today that he also makes the best Murderberry Tarts in the whole world. So, he’s kind of perfect.” Edric Blight was leaning back in full smug mode, waiting to see the lights turn on in Jerbo’s head.

And after a long moment of silence Ed was rewarded by watching Jerbo’s eyes light up. Words failed him completely and he simply pointed at himself questioningly. Ed just nodded his head in agreement with the silent sentiment.

The two just sat in silence for a while longer before Jerbo laughed this time. He felt so silly having instantly dived into despair as soon as Ed started to describe the guy he was interested in. Once the laughter left him, he finally spoke up, a smile still across his face because Jerbo could not believe his luck. “You have terrible taste.”

“Ha! I told you that you were getting bolder. You just told a Blight that he has terrible taste directly to his face.” Ed couldn’t help but tease at least a little bit. Without the fear of rejection hanging over his head, the whole room felt so much lighter.

“Well I can’t help it if I’m right.” Jerbo felt that same sense of relief, even if neither of them had said it out loud, it was easy enough for each to spy the difference in the other’s smile. “But I guess I can’t say anything. My tastes are pretty bad too.”

“Oh yeah? What’s your type?” Edric definitely hoped that Jerbo felt the same way about him, but even if he didn’t, he didn’t think he could even be too upset. Not even his darkest fears of rejection could cloud his vision now. He’d come clean and been accepted. 

“Well there’s this guy and he’s always loud and he acts like he’s full of himself, but he’s really a sweetheart. There’s a lot of times where it feels like he’s too much, but somehow I can never seem to get enough of being around him. He’s got the most amazing smile you’ve ever seen which is great because he’s always got some dumb grin on his face. Oh and I found out today that he actually likes the tarts I made.” A smug look on Jerbo’s face was a rare thing, but he felt a bit of pride at seizing the chance to flip the tables. Even if his face was bright, bright red by this point.

Edric lit up red at the last line and simply mimicked Jerbo’s motion from earlier of silently pointing at himself questioningly. Jerbo nodded silently, with a smile on his face. For one of the scariest days of his life, this was a shockingly happy ending to it. Sure once Ed was gone he’d probably spend an abnormal portion of his night screaming and panicking, but for now it was just warmth.

“Well, then, uh, since it seems like we both have bad taste, would you be possibly interested in maybe going to get something to eat tomorrow at some point?” Jerbo wished that he hadn’t thrown in so many extra words into the question, but was otherwise pleased with himself for putting the offer out there.

“I’d love that.” The two sat there in silence for a moment, each with the dumbest smile imaginable on their faces. At least until Ed suddenly snapped back to reality. “Oh, uh, I’m not sure I’ll be able to. I start my new job tomorrow. I work on weekends now, I guess.”

“You got a job? When? Why? Where? I didn’t think you realized things had monetary value.” Jerbo suddenly sat up, surprised by this news. A Blight working a job on the weekends didn’t sound right and not just because this was cutting into his time with Ed.

“I mean money has never been like a major concern of mine, but I’m not totally clueless. Now as for when? I got the job earlier this week. Em and I skipped classes and I somehow ended up with a job. Don’t ask.” 

Ed gave the next part of his answer some serious thought. ‘Why’? He didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t want to potentially spoil this incredibly important moment in his life. If he mentioned paying off the damages for the stand, Jerbo would probably get all self blamey, so he decided the best answer would be a half-truth.

“As for why, my dad is trying to teach me some kind of stupid lesson about responsibility, so I either had to find a job on my own or he said he’d find one for me. As for where? Uh, I’m not actually sure my new employer would want me disclosing that information. I’m still not sure how serious Miss Eda is with some of her threats.” Edric quickly slapped himself on the forehead as soon as he realized the name drop.

“Eda? Like the Owl Lady? You’re working with the Owl Lady?” Jerbo was now at full attention. He didn’t really know the Owl Lady very well and until recently only knew rumors and they weren’t very flattering ones. If it weren’t for hearing Luz talk about her, he’d tell Ed to run away as fast as he could. Of course, she had also turned out to be mysterious Lord Calamity that the Detention Track gang had basically worshipped. The mysterious creator of their secret haven.

“Yeah. I know what you’re probably thinking and she’s really not that crazy. Well, she is crazy, but she’s not that bad anyways.” Ed was trying to make this not sound so bad. He knew what kind of reputation the Owl Lady had and what Jerbo probably thought. He wasn’t going to be running around helping her rob banks or whatever. At least, he hoped not.

“No, I get it. Just be careful.” Jerbo tried to relax a bit, something that always proved easier with Ed around. “Well we can figure out a time to get food later. If you don’t have to hurry home, we could hang out here for a bit?”

“Oh yeah, sure. Actually, I’ve been feeling kind of out of the loop this whole week. What’s been going on aside from sitting in dirt?” Ed’s smile beamed as he was eager to catch back up with Jerbo.

“Oh! Um, real fast, can I, um, can I…” Jerbo was red again as he tried to force himself to say this. “Can I message Viney real fast and brag about having… a… boyfriend? I mean I shouldn’t assume that you want to-!”

Ed laughed, his own cheeks still red as he sported his signature grin. “Only if I can brag to Em.”

After sending their respective messages they proceeded to lose track of time chatting away the hours. About the aftermath of the exciting day, about classes, about random memories, about any and everything that came to mind. It was during this time that Jerbo finally figured out where his hand belonged: clasped firmly in Ed’s.

=======

“Okay I am not panicking. I am totally fine. I have never been more relaxed in my entire life.” Viney paced frantically back and forth in front of a very confused Puddles. “What happened? When did it get this hard? Back at Grom she was the nervous panicking one and I was the one trying to keep her calm. What’s different now?”

Puddles definitely could not understand a word she was saying, but offered up a soft coo nonetheless.

“So what if back then I just thought she was a pretty face? I still think she’s a pretty face, but now I know her better than that. Now I know that she’s smart and funny and brave and just… ugh!”

Viney proceeded to bury her head in the griffin’s fur. “What do I do?” She grumbled without pulling her head away. This prompted Puddles to nuzzle against her lovingly. After a moment, she started laughing as Puddles kept nuzzling until nearly pushing Viney to the ground.

“You always know just what to say.” Viney pet the griffin for a moment, before pulling herself back up. “Okay! Last minute check! Is the griffin stinky? Nope. Is the griffin clean? Yes. It’s lucky for me that you’re a lazy bones who just wants to sleep all day. Otherwise you would definitely have messed up this fine brush job on your coat.”

Viney circled around Puddles giving what she considered to be the most important inspection of her life. “Feathers are all nice and preened, claws have been carefully filed and those talons are looking very healthy. Dang girl, you’re looking better than I am.”

She finally stopped circling around Puddles and gave her one last scratch before walking over to pull a nearly unused saddle off of the wall. Puddles immediately made her displeasure known upon seeing the device.

“I know you don’t like the saddle, but Em’s not exactly an experienced rider and we need to make just one big memory together that doesn’t involve nearly breaking limbs or unearthing repressed trauma. And falling off mid-flight probably counts as both!” The dance at Grom and the encounter with the Slitherbeast were the two most notable events of her time with Emira Blight and she wouldn’t let that stand as the ones that stick out in Em’s mind. Sure, Viney could recall with vivid clarity plenty of time spent idly chatting and watching Emira smile and laugh, but those times wouldn’t be what Em remembered.

Puddles still seemed resistant to the idea of letting the saddle anywhere near her. With a sigh, Viney spun the circle and called on the magic of her bond to the griffin. One of the simplest uses of this aspect of Beastkeeping magic was to allow the Keeper and Beast to feel as the other does for a moment. Once it was done Puddles nuzzled against her witch and lay flat to allow Viney to easily put the saddle on.

“Thank you. I know it’s uncomfortable and I promise I’ll make it up to you. I’d offer you treats, but I still need to replace the ones Ed gave you. If we have time I’ll swing by the market before we pick Em up.” The mention of treats instantly got Puddles’ attention. Treats was a word the griffin definitely understood. The griffin remained as still as possible while the saddle was put on. It was a pretty big one with seats for a rider and a passenger.

“Okay I think we’re basically all set to go. So the plan for tonight is to have a fun and exciting, but disaster-free time with Emira Blight.” Viney was still nervous, but routines like taking care of Puddles always helped her keep her head on straight. Of course using the bonding circle with Puddles had given her a craving for millet that she had no intention of following up on.

“Did I hear you say you’re spending time with Emira Blight?” Her mother’s voice called from behind her, standing in the doorway to Puddles’ shed.

“Mom! You have to remember to knock. And yeah, I’m taking Puddles on a flight with Em...ira.” 

“I never imagined that the Em you’ve been going on and on about was Emira Blight. Sweetheart, did you try to hide this from me?” Viney’s mother was a short woman, about the same height as Viney herself actually. It was hard to describe her expression as anything other than worried.

“No! I just... “ Viney didn’t like hiding things from her mother. Even if they didn’t always see eye to eye, her mother was one of the most caring people she knew. “I just didn’t want you to freak out because I’m spending time with the Blights. I know you don’t like them.”

Her mother let out a sigh. “I won’t claim to know the children. I mean, sure I hear they’re… a handful, but I don’t really know them. But the Blights as a family are trouble. I don’t want you getting hurt because we don’t meet some absurd standard. Nor do I want to hear that you’ve picked a fight with a Blight either.”

“Well she isn’t like that. She won’t-” Viney crossed her arms just like she did when scolding any of her friends. She wouldn’t dare raise her voice to her mother, but she also wasn’t going to let herself be talked out of this.

Her mother interrupted her, “Sweetheart, I know. I might not know Emira Blight, but I think I’ve got a decent handle on this Em. If she’s even half as sweet as you say, then I’ve got nothing to worry about. I mean, I can’t stop myself from worrying about you, but I don’t think that will ever change. So, when are you leaving? Maybe I can help you get ready.”

Viney smiled and gave her mother a hug, which Puddles quickly made apparent she wanted in on. Once they managed to get the griffin off of them, Viney pulled out her scroll to check the time. 

A sudden look of panic filled her face. “I need to leave five minutes ago! Thank you for the offer, but we’ve gotta go! I love you and I’ll be back before it gets too late, I promise!”

Without any further ado, Viney and Puddles left the shed and took off into the sky, quickly disappearing over the treetops as her mother stood and watched. She had a soft smile on her face which, much like her daughter, suddenly switched to panic. “Wait, was that boy here the other day a Blight too? Oh and I didn’t even say hello! She could have told me! Oh, that girl is going to age me.”

Unfortunately Puddles flew through the air too quickly for Viney to get much of a chance to finalize what she wanted to say. There’s been many nights where that was her favorite thing about riding through the air, the fact that not even her own thoughts could race faster than these wings.

Finding a place to land in front of the library was harder than she thought it would be, but eventually they managed to make it work, even if it was a bit of a sight. Viney hadn’t been expecting Em to dress up and found herself struggling to form cohesive thoughts when she saw her standing there in her dress from Grom. Of course she hadn’t rented it.

As Emira approached she was smiling from ear to ear. “Hey! I hope you don’t mind that I dressed up. I wanted another excuse to wear this thing. And look! No heels this time!”

“You’re probably gonna get cold in that.” Viney internally screamed. Her first words to Em tonight and it was chastising her choice of a frankly beautiful dress? “What I mean to say is: You look great.”

“Good save.” Emira said, pretending to pout. Her attention shifted nervously to the saddle on the griffin’s back. “So, um, how do I get on this thing?”

Viney held out her hand. “I’ll pull you up.”

When their hands touched, Viney felt sparks. Even her touch was electric. After a longer pause than she intended, Viney finally pulled Em up onto the saddle and helped her stay steady as she got settled into place.

“Anywhere in particular you want to see?” 

Emira gave the question some thought for a moment before finally shaking her head. “No, just give me whatever tour you want. I’m just along for the ride. Oh, uh, before we go I have something for you.”

Emira reached up and grabbed the blue flower that Viney had just assumed was part of her hair tie and handed it over. “You’re giving me a flower?”

“Yeah. I don’t think it would go well if I tried to give it to you while we’re in the air, so I thought I should give it to you now. It’s important, but I’ll only tell you why when we land again. Gotta keep a good mystery going.” Emira’s smile seemed to indicate that she was already enjoying herself.

Viney was unsure what to do with the flower. It was suddenly the most important thing in the world that it be put somewhere where it would be safe and not blow away while they were flying. She eventually decided to attach it to her hairband that kept her ever-present bun held together. With a quick spell circle, the stem of the flower grew out and coiled around it. It would probably be a pain to take that out later, but for right now it was absolutely worth it. 

“I love it.” Viney absolutely could not afford to make eye contact with Em right now. She didn’t think that a single flower could be so beautiful but, coming from Emira, it was the most precious thing in the world as far as she was concerned.

“I forgot you can do Plant Magic too. Little bit of everything, huh?” Emira inspected the flower’s new home closely, as impressed as always.

“Yup. I’m no Jerbo, but I can get by. Now are you all ready to fly?” Viney wanted to lean back and give Em a smile, but with the way she’d been going tonight she was afraid she’d fall off somehow while turning around. So she kept her eyes ahead.

“I think so.” Emira found a spot to grab onto the seat and held on tight. Maybe a little too tightly even.

After a moment of giving Puddles a few last scratches, Viney spun a circle and they took off into the sky. Emira was giddy as she watched the town of Bonesborough shrink below them. She watched with glee as the many people wandering through the streets became little more than dots in a tangled grid.

Finally they stopped climbing and even though they were moving forward fast enough that the wind whipped her hair, it felt like they were frozen in place. The Isles looked amazing from up here and she couldn’t stop herself from making excited noises of awe.

Viney looked back at Emira and caught the sunlight shining in her eyes as she looked around her with a childlike wonder. Whatever snark she’d planned to say quickly died on her lips. She decided to steal this moment and lock it away in her mind forever.

At least until Emira noticed her gaze. “Is it okay for you to look away?”

“You’re fine. I mean it’s fine! Puddles is an expert at this, so she’ll take good care of us. So, uh what do you think?” Viney motioned around to the sprawling expanse of the isles which seemed so much smaller from up here.

“It’s beautiful. It’s wild to think that you can just come up here whenever you want. Must be nice to just get away for a while.” Em kicked a foot lightly in the air, trying to be mindful of her balance. Her hands still held a white-knuckle grip on the saddle, but she otherwise seemed very relaxed.

“Yeah, it can be great to spend some time with just Puddles and the open air. I’ve gotten through some rough times up here. But, I think this place is best shared. For the record you’ve already thrown up less than Jerbo did by this point.” She grinned, never missing a chance to take a jab at her best friend.

Although she immediately realized that she’d made it so that if Emira ever did recall this moment, now attached to it was her first words where she talked about Jerbo losing his lunch. Real smooth.

“Gross. I feel sorry for whoever was directly below him.” Emira was clearly grossed out and made no effort to hide it.

Viney noticed that Emira rarely hid things. If she was happy, everyone would know it. If she was annoyed, everyone would know it. If she was upset, by the Titan, everyone would know it. The girl seemed like an open book. And Viney still wanted to know so much more about her.

Viney was beyond excited to switch the topic, but to what? Small talk with Em had never been this hard before. But this wasn’t just normal small talk was it? This was important. This needed to be a perfect memory in Emira’s mind. This was BIG small talk.

“Wow you’re so tense and focused.” Emira’s words brought Viney back to reality. “You’re always so relaxed. Flying must be harder than I thought.”

Viney laughed hearing that come from Em. “I think earlier today was the only time I’ve ever seen you stress over anything. You’re like the queen of calm.”

“Nah, I’m basically stressed out all the time, I just wear it well. If Ed was your brother, you would be too.” As she spoke Emira was scanning the landscape below them, clearly looking for something.

“Well you wear it beautifully then.” Viney caught herself briefly wondering what could stress out a Blight so badly, but quickly scolded herself. She was so tired of getting hung up on that last name.

“Thanks. Maybe one day magic will have advanced enough for us to literally spin stress into silk. Then I’d be wearing a dress that puts this one to shame.” Em smirked and imagined herself in a gorgeous white dress that flowed onto the floor. It had text on it reading ‘I would rather be sleeping’.

“I have trouble imagining you looking any better than this.” Viney said without thinking. Panic immediately set in. Was that too much? That was too much. Quick, change the subject! “So! What are you looking for? I see you scanning the ground. Maybe I can help you find it.”

Emira needed a second after Viney’s first comment and was beyond relieved when the topic was switched. “Is it weird that I’m looking for something and hoping not to find it?”

“Well, maybe I can help you not find it then.” Viney laughed a bit, nervously anticipating her next screw up.

“I’m looking for my house.” From up here Em found the landmarks hard to recognize. After all, she wasn’t used to seeing the trees and streets from above. But as she kept looking more and more things were getting familiar. The sprawling campus of Hexside was easy to spot which meant that Blight Manor should be just a little ways… “Aw farts. I found it.”

“You watch your language!” Viney pretended to scold as she cupped her hands over where Puddles’ ears should be. “I do not want my dear innocent Puddles picking up such foul language.”

“Oh, sorry!” Emira wasn’t sure if Viney was being serious or not. “Uh, does that mean you can understand Puddles? I mean you can understand what Barcus says, so can you understand her too?”

Viney let go of the griffin’s head, giving it a quick scratch before she let go. “Not in words. We’re bonded so we kinda have a link that lets us understand each other better. But to answer your question, no I can’t carry on a conversation with Puddles like I can Barcus. Also, just so you know Barcus really doesn’t like being referred to as an animal.”

Emira somehow felt like she managed to offend both Viney and Barcus in one fell swoop. “Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! I just… Sorry. Ugh, I wish witches could do bonding circles like that too. Then I wouldn’t say stupid stuff like that.”

“I think we kind of do. Maybe not with literal bonding spells, but when you meet someone you form a bond. And the more time you spend with them, the more familiar you get. The easier things get. You can tell when they’re happy or sad. And if it’s someone really important you eventually lose the need for words entirely. It’s not so different.” Viney couldn’t tell what compelled her to say something like that. Maybe it was being up so high or Emira at her side, but there was something intoxicating in the air.

“Wow, that was poetic.” Emira smiled warmly at Viney. “So can you tell if I’m happy or sad?”

“I think everyone can tell if you’re happy or sad. You don’t exactly hide it.” Viney said with a laugh. The voice in the back of her head scolded her again, telling her that Emira would take that as an insult.

“I meant right now, you goof!” Emira stuck her tongue out at Viney, even if the healer was right.

Viney gave it thought for a moment. “Well, I want to say happy. I like to think this has gone at least okay so far. No one has fallen off and there’s been no major disasters. But…” Viney hesitated. She didn’t want this memory to be clouded by talking about bad things, but it was impossible for Viney to ignore any longer. Maybe up here, away from everyone and everything, Em would be willing to talk.

“But with you talking about not wanting to find home, it’s hard for me to say.” She turned away, pretending to be directing their flight. She didn’t know what would happen now and she wasn’t sure if she could stand to see an angry Em right now.

Emira looked away, unsure of what to say next. After a long, silent moment (during which Viney was having an internal meltdown) she finally spoke again. She rested her head against Viney’s back, stealing some of her warmth. “You know, I’ve had dreams like this. Where I grow wings and fly away. I get to watch the manor shrink and shrink until it’s not even a dot in the distance anymore. Then when I can’t see it anymore, I just keep flying, far away from everything. But I don’t have wings and I can’t fly away. I can even still see it from up here. If we stay up here until it gets dark, it’ll even be lit up with bright lights.”

Viney spoke before she gave herself a chance to overthink, to overcomplicate things. “You can always borrow my wings.”

Emira let out a low chuckle, barely audible. “I’d like that…”

“If you could just leave, would you?” With her eyes now on the horizon Viney wasn’t sure what the next step even was. Just take Em and fly far, far away? Help her live that dream?

“No. I can’t. I’ve got to take care of Edric and Amity. I won’t leave them behind, no matter what.” Emira kept her head buried in Viney’s back. As long as she stayed buried here, nothing else would matter.

“That’s a lot for someone your age to have to worry about. I know you don’t want to talk about it and you can totally just say that you don’t want to talk, but I have to at least ask. Are you okay there? It doesn’t sound like you want to go home. And I met your mom, who didn’t seem like the warmest woman out there. I tried telling myself that she was just upset because Amity was hurt, but it sounds like that might not be the case.” Viney let out a long sigh. 

This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. They were just supposed to have a peaceful night and chat about fun things and maybe talk about something important, but this wasn’t it.

“It’s okay. I haven’t really talked with anyone other than Ed and Amity about it. But, no. I’m not okay there. She hates me. She hates my guts.” Emira had never been so glad that Viney couldn’t see her face as she began to audibly choke up. She hadn’t cried about this in years, so why now? Why here? Why in front of her?

Viney had a lot to process. What kind of mother would hate her children? What kind of person could possibly hate Em? Finally how much trouble would she get in for making Puddles spit up spiders onto her mother?

“It’s for the stupidest reason too, but I can’t even say it.” Emira was shaking a bit as tried to stop herself from crying. 

“If you don’t want to keep talking about this, that’s okay. I get it. We can talk some other time.” Viney realized that this had become another memory involving repressed trauma. Great. Maybe this was just Viney’s curse. The curse of meaning well, but always dragging Emira through her worst memories.

“No, it’s important. It’s been one of the most important things in my whole life and I need to be honest with someone. And if it’s anyone, I really want it to be you. It didn’t take you long at all to become someone important to me. Someone I trust. Someone I can apparently cry around.” Emira steeled herself. In this moment she’d come to realize that she trusted Viney completely. She felt like she could actually say this, even if it was only to her. “She hates me because I like girls.”

“What?!” Viney cried out suddenly. Whether it was the bond between the two or just the sudden noise, Puddles was clearly startled. The Beastkeeper took a moment to calm the griffin down. 

The sudden jostling ruined Em’s hiding place against Viney’s back and she wanted nothing more than to keep Viney from seeing her face right now. Viney could see her as an embarrassing, flustered mess all she wanted. That was fine. That was normal. But this? With red eyes and makeup that was in the process of being completely ruined? Completely unacceptable. 

While Viney was calming Puddles Em took the chance to try to clean up a little. She deeply regretted wearing this dress because she would kill for an outfit with pockets right now. And not those fake pockets either. She didn’t have her cloth with her and she was absolutely not going to wipe her face off with this dress, so it was time to do what she had scolded Ed for. Trying to wipe her face with her arms and hands.

She couldn’t see, but she was now pretty sure that all she’d done was smudge everything up. Desperate times called for desperate measures. It seemed like Puddles was calming down and Viney was about to turn her attention back this way.

“Don’t turn around yet.” Em said, quickly burying her head against Viney’s back once more except this time using the back of her shirt to wipe her face clean. It's always best to use a cloth.

“Are you wiping your face off on my shirt?” Viney laughed, not making any effort to pull away or stop her.

“Shut up! You wouldn’t want to see this mess right now.” Emira snapped as she finished her work. “Okay I think I’m presentable. Sorry for making things weird.”

Viney finally turned to face Em, a look of warmth and concern on her face. “Em, the only thing weird is how badly I want to sic Puddles on your mom. Actually I think that’s probably pretty normal when talking about someone who is so hateful and moronic and...ugh!”

Em laughed, her heart warmed by Viney getting so passionate on her behalf. “No, no by all means keep going. I want to see how colorful your vocabulary really is.”

“Em, how can you just laugh and joke about this? This is horrible. I just thought they were strict! I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve to be treated like this for something like that!” Viney had no idea how the twins could always carry on like they do knowing what she now knew. 

“It’s fine. We’re used to it, I guess. I mean for the most part they just stay out of our way. Plus, we’ve got each other. It’s really not all doom and gloom.” Emira felt a bizarre weight off of her shoulders. Maybe there was something to this whole ‘talking about your problems’ thing.

“Well you’ve got us now too. You’ve got me, Em. I don’t have any clue how to help with all of that, but I can definitely be here with you.” Viney took Emira’s hand and held it like it was the most fragile thing in the world. 

“You’re sweet. Too sweet.” Emira was as red as she’d ever been, finding herself unable to look directly at Viney. “You know, it’s crazy. When we first met, back at Grom, I was stumbling and fumbling over myself. In more ways than one. I thought you were beautiful and I just… wanted to get to know you better. I think what you said about witches bonding was right. I can actually get through sentences without saying anything too dumb. I can mostly form coherent thoughts. We’re comfortable, I guess. And I was afraid that if you knew I liked girls that I would lose that. So, I hope things can stay comfortable.”

Viney had to give what to say some careful thought. She didn’t want to pause for too long, but this needed to be precise. “It’s funny that you mention that, because I feel like I’ve gotten worse. I’ve spent this whole time freaking out because I wanted this to be perfect for you. I wanted to make some grand memory that you would treasure. My words don’t always come out the way I want them to around you and I, uh, um...See? I don’t even know how that sentence was supposed to end.”

Em couldn’t help but giggle at watching someone like Viney get flustered. The poor thing was just saying whatever words came to the top of her head and Emira did not dare to interrupt. It was too precious.

“I’m not sure how to work this in casually so I’ll just say it. I like girls too. I like you, especially.” Viney continued, watching Emira’s face light up. “I want to get to know you better and better. Full disclosure, I’ve spent a long time getting caught up on that last name of yours. What would a Blight think? A Blight would never do that! Stuff like that. But I don’t want to know Emira Blight. I want to know Em.”

Emira didn’t know what to say. She had to be dreaming. Any second now she would get woken up by Ed or Amity and realize this was all just some sort of sweet dream. But she wasn’t waking up, so that meant it was time to say something. Anything.

“We’ve been holding hands for a long time now.” Emira couldn’t believe that was what she said.

“Do you want to stop?” Viney asked with a nervous smile on her face.

“No. Not ever. This hand is mine now.” Em looked weirdly serious before she started laughing. “Is that a weird way to ask you out?”

“Yes it is, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.” Viney smiled as she gazed warmly at Em’s face and thought that she’d give anything to hear that laugh and wanted to do everything she could to make sure Em kept smiling.

It was then that she noticed Em was shivering. The sun was starting to go down and it was getting cold up in the sky. “I told you it would get cold! Next time you have to dress warmer, okay?”

“Next time?” Em asked hopefully.

“Next time.” Viney confirmed as she gave Puddles the command to begin descending. They landed in front of the library again and Viney helped Em dismount. “So, now that we’re back on solid ground, are you gonna tell me about this flower? I’ve been dying to know.”

“Oh, uh, it’s not much. I wanted to get you something special, so I grew it for you. Jerbo taught me a bit of plant magic so I could have it ready in time. I think I’m kind of not very good at it.” Now that they were back on the ground, Em seemed much more nervous. If Viney had to guess it would be all the other people watching.

“You learned Plant Magic just to grow me a flower? That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. But I’m going to have to consider strangling Jerbo for trying to set me up in secret. But I guess it’s only fair since Ed helped me get Puddles ready for tonight.” She pulled out her scroll and saw that she had a message from Jerbo. “Speak of the devil, I have a message from him.”

Emira couldn’t believe that Ed knew what Viney was up to and didn’t say anything. That traitor would hear about this. She pulled out her own scroll and saw that she had a message from Ed.

Wordlessly they each checked their messages and then looked at the other in shock. After a moment, Emira spoke up. “We can’t let them get away with this. We have to one up them.”

“Absolutely.” Viney agreed, getting her scroll ready. “We have to take the greatest couple’s first selfie ever taken.”

“They don’t stand a chance.” Em said as she beamed with pride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's the catharsis! It took a long time, but I ended up being pretty dang pleased with this! This is not the end of Outsiders (I mean the twins don't even have their Palismans yet!) but hopefully it's a decent climax to this stretch of story! There's still plenty more to come!
> 
> That being said these past two chapters took me an entire month to reach a point I was satisfied with, so my batteries are a little drained. So I'm going to need to take a break for a week or so! Hopefully not much more than that! Thank you for understanding! And thank you all so much for all the comments and support!
> 
> I forgot to mention that the idea for Jerbo's abominations giving him soil and such when he's upset because it's what they like and makes them feel better came from the comments! Thanks to Imwastingmylifeinhere! Y'all really got some great ideas!


	21. Dairy Contrary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well intentioned tarts have consequences.

Amity was wondering how in the name of the Titan she was going to survive much more of this. It had only been a day and she had already mastered every game that came with her scroll. She’d never been tempted to get any new ones, no matter how many times Boscha or Skara begged her to join them in whatever game was the fad this week, but this was making her very heavily consider it.

She’d managed to completely catch up on the schoolwork Ed had left with her in a matter of moments. She’d had the time to write out an entire character analysis for Hecate and what made her the way she is and probable outcomes for her character arc as of the cliffhanger at the end of the latest Azura book.

In short, Amity was bored. If this is what having free time felt like, maybe it was being overhyped. It was dark outside and starting to get late, but after countless naps she wasn’t very tired. Maybe it was time to cycle through all of her social media. Again.

She was saved from the agony of social media by her door suddenly opening and Emira bounding inside. She must have cast a spell to make herself quieter because even as she excitedly jumped around, not a sound was made.

“You need to learn to knock. You’re going to see something you can’t unsee someday.” Amity warned her older sister, who snapped out of some sort of victory dance to attempt to snap back. Whatever spell kept her movements silent also kept her voice silent as she spoke, but no sound came out.

Amity smirked and let Emira go on without saying a word. Whatever she was saying, she seemed to be getting into it now. She let her keep going up until Em seemed to be waiting on a response of some sort.

“Oh I’m sorry Em, did you say something? I couldn’t quite hear you.” Amity cupped a hand against her ear, trying to listen more closely.

Em started again, before realizing what was happening. She dispelled the silencer and glared at her sister. “You would have let me go on like that for hours, wouldn’t you have?”

“Huh. I liked it way better before. You should consider leaving the spell on more often.” Amity pretended to be distracted by her scroll.

“Oh fine then! I just wanted to tell my baby sister, who I love very deeply, all about my day. But if I’m not wanted then I can just head back to my room and wait for Ed to get home so I can talk to him instead. I’m sure he’ll be more interested.” Emira turned and began to walk back out of the room, desperately hoping that Amity would call her bluff.

“Wait, Emira I was just kidding. I’d love to hear about your day.” She hated to beg, but Amity needed something to save her from this boredom.

Em excitedly turned around and threw herself onto Amity’s bed, trying (and failing) to be mindful of the hurt leg. “Okay great because it’s been an amazing and fantastic and incredible- and did I mention amazing- day! Almost as amazing as my new-” 

Emira cut herself off and looked back at the door. She’d closed it behind her, but she still wanted to be careful, so she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Almost as amazing as my new girlfriend!”

“What?!” Amity yelped in surprise, much louder than she meant to. As soon as the noise rang out, both girls sat in silence and stared at the door. The conversation would only move forward once they were sure it was safe.

After a long, long silence Emira finally got up and cracked the door open to see if anyone was outside listening and saw no one. It seemed Amity’s exclamation had fallen on deaf ears. 

“Try not to wake the dead Mittens. Actually, wake the dead all you want. I’m more worried about the living.” Emira rejoined Amity on the bed, much more cautiously this time. She hated that she was afraid to even get too excited in this house.

“Okay before we go any further, where’s Ed? I feel like this should be an all sibling chat.” Amity’s mind was racing. Sure, Emira was probably just messing with her, but that wasn’t her normal troublemaking smile. Oh wait as soon as Ed was mentioned, that familiar smile came out.

“Oh he’s probably busy with his new boyfriend.”

Amity started to yelp again, but caught herself this time. She took a deep breath. “I was out for one day! What in the name of the Titan happened today?”

“It’s been a very long day. But yeah you’re right. It’s getting late. Let me call Ed.” Emira pulled out her scroll and called her brother. He probably just lost track of time with makeouts.

Normally Ed picks up his scroll as soon as it rings. To even let it ring twice was uncommon. By the third ring Emira was angry at him, but by the fourth she was worried.

Finally, he answered, sounding completely ragged. “Sorry Em, I-” he was interrupted by the disgusting sounds of retching. 

After the sound of the scroll falling to the floor another voice picked up, a panicking Jerbo. “You didn’t tell me Ed was allergic to dairy! You even helped me make the tarts!”

A wave of guilt washed over Emira. She knew that she could be a bit self-centered at times, but getting so caught up in growing the flowers to forget something that important was too much. She would never intentionally hurt Ed. At least not like this.

“I’m so sorry, I got too wrapped up in my own stuff. I totally forgot!” Emira was now pacing around the room as she apologized.

Amity, who could only hear half of the conversation, was grinning at hearing Em apologizing to Ed for something she was selfish about. A rare sight indeed and not one to let her sister forget anytime soon.

“How’s he doing? How bad is it?” Emira was gripping her scroll tighter than she meant to. As soon as Em said those words, Amity realized that maybe there was something more serious going on.

“I don’t really know much about this so I don’t know if this is like severe or not. He’s, um, throwing up a lot. Em, this is terrible. I poisoned him then asked him out.” While he wasn’t as bad as he was the last time Emira had seen him, Jerbo was starting to panic more and more. She heard him turn away from the receiver to yell at Ed. “Don’t laugh while you’re throwing up!”

“Okay stay calm. It sounds like he’s not having any major breathing problems. He’ll probably be fine once it's all out of his system. Just stay with him and keep an eye on him. It’s late, so he'll probably need to crash there. Is that alright?” As she paced around Emira quickly made an illusion of Edric and pointed for it to head his bedroom. Ed would need an alibi.

“Em I’m not sure. I’m gonna call Viney to be safe. She’ll know what to do. She always knows what to do.” If there was one person that Jerbo knew for sure could make everything better, it was Viney.

“Calm down. I’m telling you it’s fine. Viney said that she has to be up early in the morning, so don’t drag her out of bed for this. I can head that way if you want. I think he has some medication for it somewhere in his room. But I think you’re supposed to take the stuff before, not after.” As she walked around and talked on the scroll, Emira was waving her hands around as though she were speaking to someone in person.

Amity couldn’t help but feel out of the loop. The half of the conversation that she could hear was giving her plenty of context clues, but she’d clearly missed a lot during her feud with the twins this past week. “Is Ed alright?”

When Amity spoke, Emira habitually shushed her. She didn’t mean to, but Jerbo’s panic was starting to make her panic and when Emira panics, everyone else needs to shut up for a bit.

“Ed mentioned that he has to be at the Owl House really early for his new job, so it looks like nobody is getting enough sleep tonight. I’m calling Viney. He already talked me out of going to the Healing Coven, so I’m at least going to bring a Healer to him.” His voice was shaking but he was clearly not going to be talked out of this.

“Alright. I’m going to try to find his medicine and head that way. I’m sorry again. Oh! And if you haven’t already, throw those tarts away. Ed will try to eat them again if you don’t.” As she spoke Em made an illusion of herself and sent it off to her room. She was really, really grateful to be an illusionist and not like a bard or something in this moment.

Once she was off the scroll Emira wanted to scream. She didn’t. But she wanted to.

“Is everything alright?” Amity was worried and wouldn’t let Emira shush her again. In fact her sister was lucky she was stuck on this bed for now.

“Ugh, it better be alright. I messed up. I forgot about Ed’s dairy allergy and accidentally helped his new boyfriend poison him. I have to go make sure he doesn’t die.” Emira was rubbing her temples and clearly frustrated, though at who was unclear. “Sorry Mittens. We’re not trying to keep you in the dark, I promise. This week just won’t stop happening. At all. For any reason. Ed and I will catch up with you later.”

“Go save Ed, but you two have to catch me up on what the heck is going on. I don’t like feeling like I’m on the outside.” Amity knew that it was her own actions that caused the rift between them to begin with, but it was hard not to be upset.

“Oh don’t worry. You’re one of us. When we get back we’ll make you wish we were that easy to get rid of. Alright try to get some rest!” Em wasted no further time and hurried over to Ed’s room.

Amity sighed and condemned herself to her thirtieth nap of the last twenty four hours.

Emira tried her best to rummage through Ed’s disgusting room while the illusion of him she made pretended to sleep. Or maybe it was actually asleep? Sometimes illusions could be confusing. 

How could he find anything in this mess? Oh wait, he can’t. That’s why he was always borrowing her stuff. Their mother had clearly never looked in this room otherwise she’d lose her mind.

She checked around his desk first and found nothing of interest. She heard her scroll go off and checked to see a message from Ed’s scroll. “Ed said it should be in a bag in his closet.”

Okay it looked like with his new boyfriend there would be at least one working brain between them. If she thought his room was a mess, Emira Blight was not prepared for Edric’s closet. It was full to bursting with junk simply crammed inside. How was she supposed to find a bag in this disaster?

As she dug she found stuff from ages ago. A school project from like four years ago? At least three old yearbooks?

And then she saw it. Ed’s suit from Grom. It had been simply tossed into the pile when he was done with it. Would it be wrong to strangle her brother while he was dying? She pulled it out and tried to fold it and set it aside. She briefly wondered how it would look on her. Anything that fit Ed should mostly fit her. Of course imagining herself in his suit prompted a thought of him in her dress. She felt like she needed to get the dress cleaned just from thinking about it.

Wasn’t she supposed to be doing something in here? Oh right! The bag. Shouldn’t something this important be somewhere easier to remember? She decided to check an upper shelf in the closet and sure enough saw a small grey bag. Digging around in it she found, among other things, a container of medicine. It was even the correct medicine.

Only thing left to do was hurry back by her own room and get changed into her more casual wear. You know something more suited for hurrying across Bonesborough than this dress.

She then put on her silencing spell and got ready to head out. Since they didn’t respond to Amity’s yell earlier, her parents were probably asleep, but she’d rather be careful. As she moved around carefully downstairs she saw a light on in their study. It was probably her father doing some kind of paperwork. But it was awfully late for him to still be up. Luckily for her, she couldn’t really care less what he was doing this late.

She managed to make it out the door without attracting any attention and began to head towards Bonesborough. It was strange to see the normally crowded streets so much emptier than normal. It was more crowded than this when she was on her way home not that long ago.

The exception was the Night Market which had begun just a scant few minutes ago, meaning she was out and about after midnight now. She must’ve spent longer digging through Ed’s horrible room than she realized.The Night Market tended to be even shadier than the regular market if such a thing could even be imagined.

Emira suddenly decided it was a good idea to illusion up a hood. A Blight getting spotted alone at the Night Market was asking for trouble and she was self-aware enough to know it.

She avoided eye contact at all costs and moved as quickly as she could without attracting undue attention. She could not afford to get held up here, especially not with Jerbo’s place being so close. She managed to make it through only getting harassed by vendors trying to get the attention of anyone who walked past their stall.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she approached Jerbo’s place, which was luckily easy to spot due to all the lights still on. Once she was inside she dispelled her illusory outfit and hurried towards the sound of voices.

There was not really enough room in the tiny bathroom for another person, but Emira crammed herself in anyways because she needed to see her brother right now. She wasn’t surprised that Viney had beaten her here.

“How’s he doing?” Em asked Viney who was doing some kind of healing magic on him. Jerbo was standing beside them, making sure he held a tight grip on one of Ed’s hands.

“Well I think he’s officially emptied his stomach out. That’s a good start. Let’s get him some water and see if that stays down. Then we can try to put some actual food in his stomach.” Viney hoisted Edric up and motioned for everyone to file out of the bathroom so she could actually get him through the door. Jerbo reluctantly let go of Ed’s hand and stepped aside.

“Can I have some more tarts then?” Ed groaned weakly, his grin indicated that he was probably joking. Probably.

“Don’t make me ‘accidentally’ bump your head against the doorframe.” Viney warned as she carried him to the kitchen. Jerbo’s apartment was just a few rooms connected by a hallway that lead to the front door, so luckily they didn’t have to go far. “Oh yeah, Em was Puddles still outside when you came in? I told her to go home because I can just crash here, but sometimes she doesn’t listen.”

Jerbo was already ahead of them and trying desperately to find a clean glass to pour some water into. Dishes probably should have been done before inviting Ed over, but when you’re a sixteen year old who is home alone often, dishes usually do not get done. Eventually he found one that was less dirty and gave it a quick clean.

“I didn’t see her out there, so I guess she listened this once.” Emira looked on with warmth and awe as she saw the, clearly very tired, Viney taking such gentle care of Edric. “Sorry about all this. I know you have to be up early. It’s my fault.”

“It’s fine. I mean, it’s not fine that you just forgot about something like Ed’s allergies, but I don’t have any problem with coming to help out at any hour.” Viney saw Emira frown and deflate and quickly grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. “It’s okay. I know you wouldn’t do something like this on purpose. Now that we all know, we can be more prepared going forward.”

Jerbo handed the glass of water to Edric and took the only remaining spot at the table. “Yeah, I know I won’t be forgetting any time soon. This has been horrifying. How are you feeling Ed?”

Edric downed the glass of water far faster than someone in his condition probably should have. Once he was done he attempted to slam it down dramatically, but with his body still weak all he really accomplished was a slightly louder than normal ‘thonk’ against the table. He held one arm up in the air as though in triumph, before quickly and suddenly deflating.

“My stomach still hurts.” He whined. “Em, did you bring the medicine?”

“Oh, yeah!” Emira had somehow forgotten about the bag she carried with her and dug the medicine out of it before handing it across the table to Edric. Before he could take it, Viney snatched it away.

“Not yet. You need to wait and make sure nothing else is coming back up. Which means we’re all staying up for at least a little while longer.” Viney then turned to Emira and took the bag from her and sealed the medicine within. She placed it in her lap where it would be safe.

“Sorry you have to see me like this so soon.” Ed said with a weak grin that quickly became a wince as he felt another sharp pain in his stomach. It wasn’t coming back up, but it seemed his stomach did not appreciate the water very much.

“So soon? What were you planning on eating dairy around me at some point down the line?” Jerbo couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the apology being because it was apparently too soon and not anything else.

“Well, no but like when…” Ed cut himself off and caught himself looking around before remembering that they were not in Blight Manor. They were in Jerbo Manor. “When couples go through something like this it's usually not within the first few hours of being together. Sorry for being gross.”

“No more apologizing. You didn’t do anything wrong. Neither did Emira. And… neither did I.” Jerbo felt like a liar for the last part. He had definitely screwed this up. Ed is just too easygoing and sweet and forgiving and kind and wonderful. He wondered how many more screw ups he would be allowed before even Ed’s patience ran out. “These things just happen.”

“Em, are you allergic to dairy too?” Viney asked as she rummaged through the bag. She’d been able to tell there was more than just the medicine in here and wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything she needed to be aware of.

“Nah, I think it skipped me. It must be because I’m the pretty one. Oh wait hang on I got a better one. I’m allergic to being allergic to dairy.” Emira grinned and looked around, waiting for the uproarious laughter that was sure to follow. It got a heavenly little giggle out of Viney, but no reaction whatsoever from Edric or Jerbo. Humorless philistines.

“Then why did you bring all this makeup? I just assumed this was your bag.” Viney pulled out a handful of several different colors of lipstick and a few different kinds of eyeliner.

Emira would never embarrass her brother in front of his friends while he was too weak to even defend himself properly. She would, however, absolutely embarrass him in front of his boyfriend while he was too weak to defend himself properly.

“Oh, those are Ed’s.”

All eyes in the room suddenly snapped to the handful of makeup and then to Edric Blight. Viney’s eyes were sparkling with excitement.

“I have to see Ed with makeup on!” Viney called out as she stood up, slamming her hands onto the table, causing the whole thing to wobble and nearly collapse.

Even without saying a word every bit of Edric’s body language was screaming nervous and afraid under the excitement and scrutiny of Viney. His eyes darted around at everyone looking at him, but lingered a little longer at Jerbo than the others.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Jerbo said, shooting a dirty look at Viney.

“You know you want to see it too.” Viney said with a grin.

“That is not the point.” Jerbo said indignantly as he pointed accusingly at her, but kept a firm grip on Edric’s hand..

After a long moment of silence Ed finally spoke up. “Would you really want to see that?”

Jerbo smiled at Edric. “I mean, I’m sure you’d look great. Just, you know, whatever makes you happy.”

Edric didn’t look much less nervous at all, despite Jerbo’s kind words. “You don’t think it's weird? I mean, I know guys aren’t supposed to like-”

“It’s not weird at all.” Jerbo interrupted. “Just do what makes you comfortable and happy. I know you talked about being wary of too many eyes on you, so maybe this could be a good place for something like this. Where it’s just us.”

Jerbo glanced over across the table to see Emira pretending to gag and flail around dramatically. If Viney had any plans to stop her, it was well hidden behind a wide smile. “Well almost just us.”

“Well if we have to stay up just a little longer anyways, then maybe it might be fun to show off a little. But we should definitely head to bed after that!” Between the now infrequent pains in his stomach and his heart absolutely pounding in his chest, because of his boyfriend holding his hand, Edric didn’t really think sleep would be happening. Still, everyone else would probably want sleep.

Viney seemed content to let Edric take his medicine and then she and Emira pulled Edric away from Jerbo and took him away into the tiny bathroom. Viney was very insistent that it needed to be a surprise for Jerbo.

“I love this!” Viney said excitedly as Emira set to work.

========

“I hate this.” Viney said nervously as Emira finished her dark work.

Edric’s eyes were closed as per Viney’s orders so he couldn’t see whatever it was Viney saw. “Wow, is it that bad?” He’d be lying if he said his feelings weren’t at least a little hurt.

“No, you look great actually. That’s not the problem. The problem is… uh… I don’t know how to say this. You look just like Em.” Ed really wished he could see Viney’s face right now.

“What?! I mean, we’re twins but it’s going to take more than some eyeliner and lipstick to look as good as me. Speaking of which, Ed why is this bag full of dozens of containers of eyeliner and lipstick and nothing else? You know there’s more makeup than just this, right?” Even with his eyes closed it was easy for Edric to picture his sister’s expressions. He could easily picture her turning her nose up and feigning disgust.

“Yeah, but that’s all I know how to put on! And makeup is expensive so I don’t want to waste snails on something I don’t know how to put on. So I just kinda keep getting the same thing. Can I open my eyes now?”

“Yeah go ahead. I think I’ve done all I can do with just eyeliner and lipstick!” Yeah even without looking he knew what glare he was getting.

He opened his eyes and looked in the mirror in front of him. Emira was so much more practiced at this than he was. Everything was so much cleaner and smoother when she applied it. He couldn’t help but feel that little bit of pride at his reflection. Edric Blight looked good.

“Okay let’s go show Jerbo.” Viney said, turning to open the door.

Edric Blight looked terrible. Jerbo couldn’t see him like this. Stuff like this was best suited for Emira. It looks great on Emira. On Edric, it just looks like clown makeup. Like a child playing pretend. He reached up to begin trying to wipe his face clean but he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

“Hang on Vi. Someone’s getting nerves.” Emira stopped Viney and then turned her attention back towards Edric. “You can wash your face off in the sink if you really want to, but I think you should take the chance. You trust him, right?”

Words were still failing him, but Ed nodded. He truly did trust Jerbo. He trusted him wholly.

“Alright then. You go on out there. We’ll be right behind you.” Emira pulled her brother up out of the seat and nudged him towards the door. From there he opened it and finally stepped through.

Viney smiled and snickered. “Vi? Pet names already?”

“Oh, sorry is that too much? I thought it would be cute.” Viney might be her girlfriend now, but Em still found it hard to stare directly at that absolutely radiant smile.

“No, I love it. I also love the caring big sister routine. You give him such a hard time normally that I guess it’s easy to forget how much you two have been through together.”

“Don’t worry I’ll put some of Amity’s Abomination crud in his cereal or something to make up for it. So, uh, any idea what the sleeping arrangements are going to be?” Emira had really only seen Jerbo’s bed and the sofa she could spy from the kitchen as far as places to sleep went.

“If it’s alright with you, we’ll probably end up sharing the sofa. It pulls out into a bed. It’s not the most comfortable thing in the world, but we can probably get by.” Viney seemed nervous about the proposal. Was she nervous to share a bed with Em?

“As long as I get to sleep next to you, I’m sure it’ll be the most comfortable sleep of my life.” Emira was red-faced and screaming internally as she attempted to banish whatever demon possessed her to say that.

“Aww. That’s so sweet! I wish I could follow it up with something sweet too, but I just want to warn you that I snore a little.” Viney grabbed Emira’s hand and gave it a squeeze before lacing their fingers together. 

========

While the girls did their thing with Ed, Jerbo decided to use the time to do some of the dishes that had piled up. He was really kicking himself for not doing more cleaning. He’d invited Ed over. The place should have been spotless.

He picked up the glass Ed drank from and inspected it. He’d drank water from it, which meant it was cleaner now than it was before, right? Yes, of course. Water makes things cleaner. He put it up in a cabinet for clean glasses.

“Uh hi.” Ed’s voice came from behind him. Jerbo turned around to face the source of the voice.

Jerbo knew what makeup looked like. He had an idea of what to expect. He even had an idea of what it would look like on Ed, since he’d seen Em before. But absolutely nothing could have prepared him to turn around and see Edric Blight with perfectly winged eyeliner highlighting his beautiful eyes, practically glowing gold in the dim light of the kitchen. Nothing could have made his heart race faster than seeing those wonderful lips shining with a fresh coat of lipstick. It was nearly the same shade of green as his hair.

“P-Pretty…” Was the best Jerbo’s brain was able to muster.

“You better mean that.” Edric was still visibly nervous, but he was trying his best to put on his normal smile. “Although Viney said I look like Em. So I guess you’re calling Em pretty?”

“No!” Jerbo said a little too forcefully. “You… pretty…”

Oh good words were still hard. He was afraid that he might come across as something other than a buffoon. Luckily that won’t be happening.

“Such a gentleman.” Edric’s confidence seemed to be rapidly returning as Jerbo’s was rapidly waning. Ed reached out to take Jerbo’s hand and was surprised to find it dripping wet.

“Sorry!” Jerbo said as he yanked his hand away and grabbed the towel next to the sink to begin drying them. He looked over at Ed who seemed to be pouting because the hand was snatched away from him. “Sorry…”

“Apologize again. I dare you.” Edric said with fake annoyance as he took back the hand that was rightfully his. His plan had initially been to place a kiss on the back of this hand. Now that it was time to make it happen he found his breath caught in his throat and his body not responsive.

Was this too much too quickly? Was this creepy? This was creepy. It was creepy and too much. Jerbo was clearly nervous and uncomfortable. Edric constantly needed to remind himself that not everyone is as needy as he is. Not everyone wants to be smothered all the time.

Ed pulled himself back away and smiled at Jerbo as though he hadn’t just had an entire internal crisis. He didn’t let go of Jerbo’s hand because let’s not get carried away here. “So! Where am I sleeping?”

“Uh, Viney always lays claim to the couch and I’m sure Em will want to sleep with her. That really just leaves my bed. I mean there’s a bed in my parents’ room, but let’s just stay out of there. You can have the bed. I’ll make a little spot on the floor.” Jerbo began pulling Ed towards his room, as if to show off the bed.

“You are not sleeping on the floor! I’m the one who almost ruined your bathroom. If anyone is sleeping on the floor, it’s going to be me.” Edric was quite insistent on this point.

“I am not going to even consider letting you sleep on the floor. That is not even an option.” Jerbo stood his ground just as firmly.

“Then maybe we should share the bed.” Edric said with that tone of fake annoyance again.

“I was hoping you would be the one to say it.” Jerbo said mimicking Ed’s tone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you miss me? Go ahead and admit it, you missed me. Well I missed you guys!


	22. Ed, Ed n Eda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edric's first day on the job!

Sharing a bed with Edric was definitely a learning experience for Jerbo. Firstly he learned that Ed was one of those people who fell asleep in a matter of minutes. No lying awake in wide-eyed existential agony. No late night chatter until you drift away. Just out once the head hits the pillow. 

Next he learned that Ed was a very, very restless sleeper. Tossing and turning endlessly made it impossible for Jerbo to even get close enough for anything resembling a cuddle, not that he had the courage to go for a cuddle anyways. Whatever dreams he was having, it didn’t seem like they were very relaxing ones. 

Then he learned that the restlessness wasn’t lost on Ed either. Ed only slept for a short few hours before his scroll woke him to get ready for his first day on the job, but in that time he woke up with a start countless times. He would look around dazed and disoriented for a moment or two before drifting back to sleep again before Jerbo could even question what he was dreaming about.

Finally he learned that sharing a bed with Edric meant that he would not be getting any of the blanket for himself. Because all the tossing and turning and rolling over eventually resulted in Ed tucking himself into a warm burrito composed of all the blankets on the bed. It didn’t stop his tossing, but at least it somewhat contained it.

Not used to these sorts of conditions, Jerbo failed to get any sleep. He was barely even aware of the passage of time until light began to filter in through the window. Very shortly after that Ed’s alarm went off, causing him to stir.

“Ugh, already?” Ed lazily spun the circle to conjure his scroll which fell dramatically onto his face as it continued to go off. Ed sat up and removed himself from the cocoon of blankets and grabbed the scroll, squinting at it for a bit before pulling it far too close to his face. Finally he turned off what Jerbo considered perhaps the most annoying alarm in the Demon Realm.

“Morning.” Jerbo said, sounding far too alert to have just been woken up. Not that either of them were really thinking about that right now.

“Gah! Sorry, did the alarm wake you?” Ed seemed shocked to hear Jerbo’s voice. 

“No. No it did not.” Jerbo answered completely honestly.

Edric spun a circle and cast a quick light spell to illuminate the room, which caused Jerbo to recoil a bit before his eyes adjusted. Once there was light Ed could see the makeup stains left behind on the pillow by his tossing and turning. Which meant he could only imagine what his actual face looked like. Edric learned the important lesson of cleaning up before going to sleep.

“I’m gonna go wash my face and try to see if I can do anything with my hair. I’d take a shower but I don’t have any clean clothes here, so I guess it’s just going to be a nasty day. I’ll be back in a minute.” Ed opened the door to the hallway and quickly scurried off in the wrong direction for a second before running past the door in the correct direction.

As always Ed left Jerbo with a dumb smile on his face. At this point Jerbo felt obligated to at least stay up until Ed had to leave, so now that the bed was still he had to get up to keep himself from starting the process of dozing off. His best defense against sleep at this point was to stay moving, so he began to pace around his room.

After several minutes Ed returned, his face cleaned and his smile blinding. “What on the Titan is that noise? Is there a Construction crew around here or something?”

Jerbo started laughing. He hadn’t paid the noise any mind, being at least somewhat used to it. “That would be Viney. She snores.”

Ed looked mortified. “That is not snoring. There has to be some kind of decibel limit on what is considered snoring. That is snarling. Poor Em.”

“You want to go wake her up?” Jerbo grinned knowing that waking Viney up was the easiest way to make her angry.

“That sounds like a terrible idea. Let’s do it. Bonus points if we wake Em too.” Edric seemed far, far too excited about this, which Jerbo couldn’t find anything but enchanting.

Ed led the charge into the living area where they saw a sleeping Viney lying flat on her back and absolutely rocking the bed with each inward breath. Edric thought for a second that she looked strange without her hair up in its usual bun.

It was then that he realized Emira was not sleeping next to her. A quick scan revealed that she was already awake and sitting at the table with a glass of water in her hand. Suddenly Edric decided that waking Viney could wait.

The boys joined Emira at the table where the short distance did very little to dampen the sound. “You’re up early.” Ed joked.

“Never went to sleep.” Emira replied as she stared off into no direction in particular. “How… How can she look so peaceful and beautiful but be so, so loud? Like a radiant goddess but… loud.” In her sleep-deprived state, Emira Blight wasn’t at her most poetic.

“Well let’s wake her up then!” Edric offered cheerily.

“Absolutely not. She has to be up soon anyways so let her sleep a little longer. We can just… pretend like we don’t hear it.” Emira was clearly stressed to her limit on this matter, but even so did not even entertain the idea of waking Viney.

“Well I think I need to head out anyways. Miss Eda never really told me a time to show up, so I just had to guess when I needed to be there. Hopefully this isn’t too late!” Edric waved goodbye and hurried out the door, trying to close it gently enough to not wake the sleeper.

Jerbo found himself unable to hide his disappointment that Edric had disappeared so suddenly and Emira wasn’t going to let it slide. “Aw, did you want a bye kiss?”

The exhausted Jerbo glared at her for a moment before silently walking over to the counter where he pulled the last paper towel off of the roll. He picked up the cardboard tube and tossed it into the living area and over the couch where it hit Viney on the head with a perfect cartoonish bonk sound.

The snoring finally stopped as Viney woke and tried to collect herself. “Who threw this?” she called out holding the tube up for the others to see.

Jerbo suddenly gasped aloud. “Emira! I know she was snoring a little, but wasn’t that a bit rude?”

Yes, she would kill him later, but for now he felt like he’d earned this victory.

========

Edric arrived at the Owl House to a sleeping Hooty. He was unsure if it was wise to wake him. He stood outside contemplating his options for a few minutes before deciding it was best to just do it. So he prodded at the House Demon.

“Wake up Hooty. I need in.” He said, hoping that he wouldn’t regret this in a few seconds.

“Oh! Good morning! I didn’t do it! I was just resting my eyes a bit!” Hooty seemed completely disoriented and definitely had not been ‘just resting their eyes’.

“Good morning to you too. Can I go on in?”

“Hmm… You may pass only if you can answer my riddle! What… is my favorite color?”

From inside the house they heard Luz’s muffled voice call out. “Hooty just let him in.”

“Nobody ever wants to have any fun!” Hooty screeched in frustration before swinging the door open. Inside he saw a sleepy Luz who was clearly still in the waking up process. He laughed thinking about what Amity would do to see this same image.

“Morning Luz. You look chipper. Come on, I want to see my favorite human smile!” Ed said with a grin at the messy haired human in front of him. He was much better at mornings than most people which was a fact that he loved to leverage where he could.

“I’m still working on it. Eda’s in the kitchen if you need her, but she’s not totally awake yet either, so choose your words wisely.” Luz offered a weak smile as she began to head up the stairs to get ready in the bathroom.

‘Okay, don’t call her Miss Eda. Just say Eda. There will be consequences if you say Miss Eda again, so just call her Eda. You really like your bones where they are. They’re comfortable.’ Ed thought to himself as he approached the kitchen. 

As soon as he stepped into the kitchen he saw the Owl Lady with her eyes barely open as she shuffled around in a dirty sweater and Vorpal Bunny slippers. In her hand was a mug labeled “30 & Flirty”.

“Good morning Miss Eda!” Edric said cheerily and then immediately chastised himself.

Luckily for him it seemed like Eda wasn’t awake enough to register the comment since she only offered up a grunt. She pulled something out of her hair and flicked it aside before taking another sip from her mug.

“I wasn’t sure what time to show up, so I hope this is alright.” He tried to keep the ‘conversation’ moving forward.

“Kid it is still early enough that I can legally get away with murder in some parts of Bonesborough.” Her eyes remained barely opened as she scolded him before taking another sip. The Demon Realm’s legal system truly did leave a lot to be desired.

As he took a step back suddenly Edric realized what that smell was. It was something he’d smelled plenty at various high profile parties he and Emira had been drug along to over the years. Apple Blood. The hard stuff too.

“Uh, isn’t it a bit early to be drinking?” He didn’t want to overstep any boundaries but felt like it was a fair question to ask.

She opened her eyes more than they had been the entire time and made direct eye contact with him as she downed the entire rest of the mug in one go. She did not break eye contact. She did not blink. Once finished she smirked. “I don’t know you well enough to answer that question honestly.”

She turned back to the fridge and, sure enough, pulled out a bottle of Apple Blood which she quickly used to refill her mug. For better or for worse it seemed that the drink was waking her up a little more with each sip. She grabbed Edric by the shoulder and pulled him with her into the living room. She pointed at the couch, indicating for him to wait here before heading up the stairs towards her own room.

As Ed sat in the living room his eyes, of course, wandered at all the junk lining the walls and shelves. It was far from his first time in the Owl House, but it never failed to amaze him. While he felt her sense of interior decoration left a lot to be desired, he respected deeply what a storied home Eda had clearly built.

Eventually he found his eyes drawn back to her Wanted Poster. It was clearly placed to draw the eye, but he once again found himself disgusted with it. Not because of Eda but because of what it meant. A trillion snails for the head of one of the nicest people he’d met. Clearly whoever put all those zeros on this thing had never met the woman herself.

At some point while he stared at it, the Owl Lady herself had joined him, formally dressed and full of energy as she stood incredibly proud and smug.”Impressive, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is, but…” He began. The inclusion of the word ‘but’ seemed to provoke a glare from Eda which caused him to hesitate. “But it’s not fair. You shouldn’t have to run like this.”

Eda sighed and cocked a hand at her hip. “Okay Kid, time for your first Bad Girl Coven lesson.”

“My first what?” Ed said before getting shushed by the Owl Lady.

“Rules like this aren’t made to protect you. Rules are made to benefit the person who made the rule and no one else. People who exist outside of those rules get labeled and chased until they either fit in all nice and pretty or they get too worn down to keep running.” As she spoke she didn’t look at Edric, choosing instead to beam with pride at her wanted poster. “And the people who make those rules can’t stand it when you put your foot down and follow your own rules.”

“I think I get what you’re saying…” Edric looked at her face as she was glowing with pride and her golden fang glinted in the light. “You’re saying that the morally upstanding thing to do is to ignore your rules and call you Miss Eda anyways!”

She finally turned to look at him, a glare on her face for a moment before it twisted into a grin. “Ha! I guess that is what I’m saying! Alright are you ready to get started, you little punk?”

Edric Blight would never be able to voice a description of the wave of relief he felt when he realized that all of his bones were going to stay in their correct places. “Yes ma’am!”

=======

The Owl Lady and Edric hid in the shade of a tree that hung over the exterior of the market. She had her wild mane of hair tucked away into a hood and a pair of dark shades on her face. Perfectly disguised she assured him.

“We just need to wait a little longer. It’s a matter of timing. We have to get in before everyone is totally set up so that it’s not suspicious that we’re still getting set up, but after the permit check.” She poked her head over the wall periodically to see if the coast was clear yet.

“You don’t have a stall permit?” He asked incredulously.

“Oh you know you’re right let me just go get a permit real fast. Yeah can you put it under Eda, the Owl Lady? You know, the most notorious witch on the Boiling Isles? No, I’ll wait while you check something and definitely don’t call the Emperor’s Coven.” She towered over Ed with a glare.

“That reminds me.” She said as she scanned the boy up and down. “I think seeing a Blight at the stand could cause some problems for both of us. You’re an Illusionist, right? You should disguise yourself. You know, to protect your identity or whatever.”

Ed spun a circle and his hair suddenly changed to brown. After all, what is a Blight but green hair and gold eyes? It had been done totally thoughtlessly.

Eda seemed surprised for a second. “Dang. With the brown hair you look almost exactly like your dad did when he was your age.”

The Owl Lady’s words put a deep, deep dread into Edric’s heart that he hadn’t realized was even there. In panic he spun another circle changing his hair to bright blonde.

She assessed him for a moment before shrugging. “Blonde isn’t really your color, but it’ll do.”

Ed pulled out his scroll to inspect himself with the camera. He saw that he had gotten a few messages from Jerbo pretty shortly after he left. “Your sister is going to kill me, I think.”, “Nevermind Viney will protect me.”, “Viney left, please send help.”

Edric laughed and sighed wondering how he ever made it through dull days without little messages like this littered throughout. He briefly wondered if today would be dull too, but this thought was ripped out of his head as the Owl Lady grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him over the wall and into the market proper.

Once he recovered from his landing Edric looked around, worried he’d attracted too much attention. The others around him were all far too busy setting up their stands to pay him any mind. Okay maybe these people were all a little dumb.

Eda called from the other side of the wall. “Kid, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He called back as he dusted himself off.

“Guards aren’t arresting you?” She called again.

“Uh… no. I don’t see any guards.”

“Great!” Satisfied with his answer, she leapt over the wall and dropped the bag containing the disassembled stand on the ground where she intended to set up shop. 

She walked away from it and cast a spell, a chair appearing in front of her and she reached into her hair pulling out a different mug (this one said ‘100% Dad’) carefully stored in a magic bubble. With a wide grin she plopped down onto the chair, popped the bubble and happily set about enjoying her drink.

After a moment she sat up and pulled the shades down far enough for Ed to see her eyes. “What are you waiting for? Get to work setting up the stand.”

“Oh! Uh, alright!” He untied the bag and watched in horror as the contents spilled everywhere. It only took him an instant to realize that he couldn’t distinguish junk intended for sale from vital parts of the stand needed so it wouldn’t collapse. “I don’t know how to set this up.”

“Well, figure it out quick. Customers are gonna be coming in soon.” She said as she made no effort to get up and help him.

“Can’t you set this up in like half a second with magic?” Edric was frustrated enough to snap at the Owl Lady herself.

“Listen Kid this is what is known in the Human Realm as ‘Management’. It means you do the base level work and I sit back and monitor you to make sure you’re doing it right.” She had that grin again as she leaned back once more.

“But you don’t do any actual work yourself?” Edric suspected he didn’t like this Human Management very much.

Eda gave a long pause to carefully consider her response. “No. Besides this builds character.”

Ed truly felt like he stood no chance at winning an argument with this woman, so he decided to refocus his attention on his assigned task. He’d only been to the Owl Lady’s stand once before, a couple years ago. He could barely even remember the encounter at this point. She tried to sell him a pet mouse or something? Edric was now fully distracted from his original train of thought when he imagined the joy of having a pet mouse.

At some point Eda got up and towered over him. “Can I be honest, Kid?”

Ed snapped out of his daydream and craned his head backwards to look at her. “First time for everything?”

She pointed accusingly at him before spinning a circle which levitated him off the ground and placed him over at the chair she was just sitting at previously. “You’re kind of garbage at this. Let me show you how it's done.”

She used magic to get all of the pieces to begin flying into place and the entire stand was properly set up in less than a minute. Edric tried to pay careful attention to how she did it. He could do a pretty basic levitation spell, but maybe it was time to learn how to push that a little further.

As he watched he absentmindedly picked up the mug and took a sip. His face scrunched in disgust as he put it back down. That was definitely Apple Blood. He and Emira had snuck some out of their parents' supply years ago and decided to give it a shot. He definitely didn’t like it as much as Emira seemed to, but he kept drinking it at her behest. They both felt absolutely miserable the next day and, to his knowledge, neither one of them touched it since.

“There, did you get all that?” Eda called as though what she had done was completely self-explanatory.

“Not really.” He answered honestly, which clearly didn’t make her very happy. “But I’ll figure it out. So, now that everything is set up, what’s next?”

“For the rest of the day we have two major goals. Number One: Sell as much of this junk as absolutely possible, for as much as absolutely possible. Number Two: Stay out of the sight of the Coven. Simple, right?” She grabbed a random item off the countertop and waved it around dramatically as she spoke. Given her flair for the dramatic Edric suspected that when she was in school Miss Eda must have been in the Bard Track.

“Yeah, that sounds pretty simple. I don’t know what any of this stuff is though. It’s hard to make a sales pitch about something I know nothing about.” Ed picked up what he thought was some kind of human dining accessory (It was a shoe).

“Eh then just do what I do. Make something up. People don’t really care what this garbage actually is. They just want to feel like they’re involved in the mystery of the human world. So just make up a good story.” She snatched the shoe from him and carefully placed it back down as though she actually cared about its well-being. She finally pulled her hood down and let her hair free with a dramatic poof.

“So, like lying?” Ed sounded disapproving, but he was actually totally fine with that. He’s an illusionist. Lying is easy.

“It’s not necessarily lying. It’s more like… Dramatization. Besides you don’t know what this stuff really does, so for all you know it’s not a lie.” She grinned having clearly practiced this speech before. Probably on Luz.

“Does that mean that you do know what it does?” Ed figured she has to know something. I mean after all she’s the one collecting all this stuff.

“Some of it. I’ve been making trips to the human world for years. Can I tell you a secret? Sometimes I pretend like I don’t know what some things are just to see what Luz will say. She gets so frustrated sometimes, but usually she’s just disgustingly patient and understanding.” She grinned and winked at him as she confided.

The market must have finally opened because people were beginning to mill around. Eventually one of those people began to look curiously in their direction.

“Look alive Kid. Your first customer. Pick something and sell it.” She excitedly elbowed him and took a step back to let him take center stage.

“Hello sir! I see our stand of eclectic wares has caught your eyes!” Emira could talk about his acting skills all she wanted, Edric knew he was truly a witch of many, many talents.

“Uh yeah, what is all this junk?” The lizard-like witch approached the stand and immediately started grabbing things to inspect.

“This is, uh, rare and exotic human artifacts! Pulled freshly from the Human Realm by the mighty Owl Lady herself!” Ed said as he presented Eda with pride.

“The Owl Lady?” The witch suddenly placed the object he was inspecting back on the countertop. “I see. I, uh, need to go check something.”

As he scurried off, Eda let out a sigh. “You gotta play the field a little longer before you name drop. He’ll probably be back with guards in a bit. We’ll probably have to move.”

“I’m sorry Miss Eda.” Edric was hoping to do a good job, but here he was forcing them to move the entire shop and the market hadn’t even been open ten minutes yet.

“Eh, it’s fine. You did way better than Luz. There’s a reason she doesn’t help me with the stall anymore. But I’ll tell you what. Go ahead and move inside the tent and just watch from in there. Consider it a learning day.” She pushed him towards the tent and kept that ever-present grin as he followed her instructions. She would never say as much but if the Coven was possibly on their way, she absolutely wanted to keep him out of their view.

Once Ed was in the tent he quickly found a spot to sit down and peek outside of the entrance. He watched Eda attempt to shepherd people to the stand, with little luck. He suspected that since they might have to move soon, she wasn’t giving it her all.

Just as she’d predicted, an Emperor’s Coven guard approached the stand.

“I heard the Owl Lady was around here somewhere.” He said, his voice dripping equal parts smugness and incompetence. It was time to see the Owl Lady at work.

“No, no you must be mistaken I’m the, uh… The Cowl Lady!” She waved her arms around triumphantly as if that proved her point somehow.

“That’s weird because you look and sound and act exactly like the Owl Lady.” It was difficult to tell with his mask on, but he was likely squinting suspiciously.

Eda scoffed. “That old hag has been stealing my identity for years. I’ve been working hard for years making cowls for all the witches of the isles! Don’t tell anyone else, but you boys in the Emperor’s Coven get special treatment.”

To Ed’s utter shock the guard seemed to be buying it. If it was really that easy then it was no wonder that someone as loud and easily identified as Eda was able to evade them for years.

“Well if that’s the case… What cowls do you have for sale? Mine is getting a little old. I could use something new.” He turned around and indicated a hole in the back of his cowl.

“Uh sure let me see if I have anything for you.” She turned and entered the tent and leaned close to Ed. “Alright I’m gonna smash his head and you run for it, Kid. Keep your head down and don’t let ‘em see you.”

“Wait, I have a better idea.” Edric grinned and spun a circle, quickly making an illusory cowl and handing it to her.

“Kid, this isn’t gonna…” She trailed off as she felt the fabric in her hand. This was an incredibly high quality illusion. She looked at him with a grin. “Alright. Let’s try it your way.”

She triumphantly strutted back outside and held up the cowl for her victim-turned-customer.

“This is a very special cowl that I can’t sell to just anyone. In the wrong hands this could be extremely dangerous. This is an antimagic cowl. If you wear it and believe with all your heart then nobody in 20- no 30 feet can use magic except for you.” If there was one thing Eda Clawthorne knew how to do, it was upsell.

“Whoa. With something like that I could be the one to catch the Owl Lady! Without her magic she wouldn’t stand a chance against me!” The guard seemed to be getting himself worked up.

“You tell yourself that…” she muttered under her breath.

“How much for it?” He inquired as he inspected the cowl. Eda didn’t allow him to touch it but he seemed impressed nonetheless.

“Well… I can’t sell it for less than three thousand snails. No, for my boys in the Emperor’s Coven I’ll give it away at one thousand!” She pretended to be distraught. “Even though it means I’d be selling at a loss!”

The guard slammed his hands against the counter. “Ma’am! With all due respect I will not let the Cowl Lady sell at a loss! Not after everything you’ve done for the isles! You will sell it for three thousand or not at all!”

“You’re too kind.” Suddenly she realized something and grabbed the guard’s hand to inspect it. Some of the guards had gloves that could dispel magic and this illusory cowl would disappear the instant it came in contact with those gloves. However, she thought this grunt looked particularly low ranking, but she still inspected his hand. Seemed like it was fine.

And just like that Eda made an easy three thousand snails.

After watching that Edric felt exhausted. And sitting down for even this bit of time quickly reminded his body how little sleep he’d actually gotten. His eyes grew rather heavy and in a matter of moments he dozed off.

=========

He swore his eyes only closed for a moment.

It was clearly not the case since he was not where he had fallen asleep and the view outside of the tent was different as well. Seems Miss Eda was somehow able to change their location without waking him. 

He poked his head outside and saw Eda counting up snails from a sale he must have just missed. She gave no sign that she’d even noticed his stirring but still called out to him. “Morning Kid. You know I’m not going to pay you to catch up on your beauty sleep two days a week. Lucky for you I’m as generous as I am good-looking. I’ll let it slide this once.”

“Sorry. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. I had a problem with allergies.” Ed wasn’t sure if Eda even cared but still felt like he owed her an explanation.

“You sound like Luz. She’s lactose Intolerant, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that so much as slow her down. Oh hang on. I have a three-strikes policy. If I see the Coven heading my way three times in one day, then I’m done with sales for that day. And here comes number three. You slept through number two. Let’s get out of here and go get some Not Dogs. My treat.” She pulled him out of the tent and tapped her staff on the ground, causing the whole thing to wrap itself up nicely.

The Coven Guard realized all too late that the Owl Lady was about to fly away and was helpless to stop her as she escaped with a younger witch with her.

“I wish I hadn’t walked so slowly and dramatically over here now. It just felt right at the time, you know?” 

========

“Wonderful work out there today Kid!” Eda declared with a mouth full of Not Dog.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m just kind of surprised it was that easy.” Edric said with his mouth equally full.

“Honestly that was more work than usual, but it was also more money than usual. Speaking of which…” She reached into her hair and pulled out a wad of bills. “Your cut.”

Edric excitedly took it and counted up his money. He felt a little cheated only getting five hundred snails of the at least three thousand made, but for a day he mostly slept through it felt like decent money.

It was half of the money he owed his father after a single day, but thinking about it, he should probably start saving money. If purchases made on the Blight account were being monitored then he didn’t want to use it at all. This five hundred snails represented all the money to his name. Which meant it was for taking care of Em and Mittens, food, any sort of miscellaneous purchases and, of course, pampering his new boyfriend. 

Suddenly it felt like barely any money at all.

As he pondered that, Eda was busy arguing with Hooty about something and during the course of their argument Hooty brazenly stole the remainder of her Not Dog, which earned a smack from the Witch.

As soon as Eda stepped into the Owl House, she saw Luz and the other Blight Twin sitting on the couch. Whatever they were talking about suddenly halted as Emira locked eyes with Eda.

“Eda the Owl Lady! I, Emira Blight, challenge you to a duel!”

No one quite knew what to say. Emira stood firm on the sofa, her finger pointing accusingly at the Owl Lady.

The first one to speak up was, of course, Hooty.

“That’s a stinger ending if ever I’ve heard one! Yup! That sure would be a dramatic line to end on! It’s a good thing that I’m here to break that tension and keep things light! Yup, we would all be lost without our good pal Hooty! Though it would be kinda weird to end on a note like this instead, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I give Ed the job with Eda *just* for this dumb Ed Edd n Eddy chapter title joke? No, I actually didn't. Was I giddy with excitement about it anyways? Yes. Yes I was.


	23. Open

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emira challenges Eda to a duel!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was looking at the TOH subreddit the other day and out of curiosity I clicked on the recommended fanfics thing and I was pretty shocked to see this story on there! I guess I'm still just kind of surprised that people really like this thing I've done. Thank you so much for all the support!

“I must have misheard you, because there is no way a child just challenged me to a duel.” The Owl Lady said as she stepped closer to Emira.

“You heard right. I, Emira Blight, challenge you, Eda the Owl Lady, to a duel.” Standing atop the couch nearly brought Emira eye to eye with Eda.

Once Eda was no longer blocking the doorway, Edric hurried over to Emira’s side. “What in the name of the Titan are you doing?” He tried to keep his voice down as though Eda couldn’t definitely hear them.

“Relax, I have a plan. You can thank me later.” She explained triumphantly.

Ed looked desperately at Luz who also seemed to have no idea what Emira was doing.

“Okay well you can repeat yourself all you want. I am not about to duel a child.” Eda spun a circle and levitated Emira off the couch and flipped her upside down before placing her back down.

Emira quickly flipped herself back up and tried to straighten her hair out. “I understand. The name Blight can be a little intimidating. There’s no shame in backing down.”

Eda’s face went from shock to a sinister grin all within an instant. “All right then. I guess I’m about to duel a child.”

“So you agree to the duel?” Emira said with a smirk. Clearly she had intended to goad Eda into agreeing to this duel, but what would happen next? How could Emira possibly beat Eda in a duel?

“Yes, I agree to the duel. Now let’s take this outside. I’m not going to fight inside my own house.” She pushed the door open and motioned for Emira to move outside.

“Oh gosh, fight? No, I couldn’t possibly fight the mighty Owl Lady.” Emira said feigning worry, which quickly transformed into her signature troublemaker grin. “I never said a Witch’s Duel.”

“I see. And I’ve already agreed. Fine then, what kind of duel did you have in mind?” Eda kept that grin as she marched over to Emira. If there was one thing that Eda could properly appreciate, it was a good scam.

“I should also note that you agreed without setting terms. So when I win, you’ll give me something I want. It’s a secret for now.” She smiled, feeling like she was in control of the situation.

“No. We set terms now.” Eda’s glare practically blew through Emira as she leaned in close.

“You’ve already agreed, so it doesn’t really matter-” Emira felt her nerves rising with the Owl Lady this close and seeming more agitated by the second.

“Don’t push your luck any further. Although now that I think about it…” Eda’s expression quickly shifted back to a mischievous grin. “Fine. My terms are that when I win, I get something from you of my choosing. Something I’ve been after for a while now.”

Emira couldn’t begin to fathom what the Owl Lady would want from her. Money, probably. Boy would she be disappointed. 

“Sounds good to me. Our duel will be, of course…” Em grabbed a deck of cards off of the table in front of the sofa. “Hexus Hold ‘Em. I saw you had some cards laying around.”

“Oh no you don’t.” King called out as he descended the stairs. “Eda has taken a blood oath to never play that game again. I am not putting up with a relapse.”

Emira absolutely lit up when she heard that. “Oh, so does that mean you forfeit by default?”

“You’re an opportunistic little thing, aren’t you? Unfortunately for you, I have a workaround.” Eda then turned her attention to King. “You know I can’t just forfeit a duel like this. I didn’t earn that bounty by quitting. Well not just by quitting anyways. If you allow me this duel I will grant you a fraction of your former power for a day.”

King’s eyes went wide with excitement. “Yes! I agree!! Play the dumb game until your hands fall off! Just give me!”

Eda picked the excited King of Demons up and turned to head up the stairs. “While I go to get him settled up, Luz go take the boy to the pile of human clothes and see if you can find anything that fits him. He needs to take a shower because he smells like he hasn’t bathed in days.”

As Eda disappeared upstairs Luz excitedly grabbed Edric’s arm and pulled him into a closet connected to the kitchen. “Welcome to the Human Fashion Pile! They’re clean, I promise!”

Ed stared at a giant mound of clothes of all shapes, sizes and colors. She quickly began pulling clothes out and trying to see what looked like it would fit. Ed seemed quickly enamored with human fashion. So many bright colors and different shapes!

Unable to decide on a single outfit, Ed ended up taking an entire pile of clothes with him, resolved to make a decision after his shower. He passed Eda who was coming back down with the new and improved King of Demons.

At first he appeared unchanged until the stair railing ceased blocking the view of his feet which were now adorned with a pair of Eda’s heels, granting him a significant height increase.

“For the next day I will be unstoppable!” King called out as he attempted to scurry away, only falling over twice in the process.

Eda laughs at his struggle, “Heh, he’s gonna hurt himself in those. Alright, who’s the dealer? I warn you: I cut a mean deck.”

Emira smiled, “The dealer is going to be an unbiased participant. That would be Luz and not Hooty, I am clarifying before he even gets a chance to interrupt.”

From outside the door they heard a sad, muffled hoot.

Dealing turned out to be a more complicated endeavor than originally anticipated because Luz insisted that she knew a “cooler way to shuffle”. In a motion surprising only Luz herself, it ended with cards being scattered everywhere.

Emira helped her pick them up while Luz grumbled about how easy someone else had made it look. Once they had them all picked up Luz looked pleadingly at Emira and Eda.

“Can I try again? Just one more try, please! I can do it!”

Neither Eda nor Emira had the ability to deny the human in this moment. They watched in silence as Luz tried again, only to achieve the same result of launching the cards everywhere. This time Eda also helped pick the cards up and Luz, in silent embarrassment, shuffled the cards normally before dealing them out as Emira instructed her.

=======

As always Edric made sure to stay in shower until the very last drops of hot water were gone. He couldn’t help but notice that meant a much shorter shower here than back at the manor. There was also a much slimmer selection of hair care products available here, which he desperately needed to remedy for at least Luz’s sake.

Now was the hard part. Figuring out what to wear. After spending most of his life in the darker colors their parents provided for them he, of course, found himself drawn to the brighter colors. He tried on a number of things, inspecting in the mirror before finally settling on an outfit he liked.

Descending the stairs he heard the sounds of Emira bickering at the Owl Lady.

“You can’t just play the Wild Card at any time, that’s cheating! It’s literally against the rules. I want a rematch, but this time with oh my Titan what are you wearing, Ed?” Only his selection of eye-searing bright colors could have taken her attention away from the Owl Lady, but boy was Ed a distraction right now.

He proudly did a showcase walk and turn with his new getup, A lime green crop top with an equally blinding yellow long-sleeved shirt underneath. He sported a pair of bright pink cargo shorts which he excitedly pointed out just how many pockets it had.

Emira sunk her head into her hands. “He’s never dressed himself before. I never even thought about it until now, but he’s never dressed himself before.”

Luz squinted as she looked at him. “You look great, Ed! You’re just a little painful to look directly at. Maybe pick something more muted.”

“Greatness is often painful to gaze upon directly Luz. Honestly, with a fashion sense like this is there anything I can’t do?” Ed couldn’t help but beam with pride.

“I’m gonna hurt his feelings.” Eda said plainly.

“Don’t you dare. That’s my job.” Emira said, pulling her head out of her hands and leaning towards the Owl Lady. “I’ve been doing this for years, so butt out.”

Emira finally turned to face Edric. She’d managed to avoid direct eye contact so far and though it stung, she endured. For her brother’s sake. “Ed the absolute nicest thing I can say about you right now is that you look absurd. And that’s the nicest thing I can say. I’m proud of you for trying to do something that’s ‘you’, but… I refuse to be seen in public with you while you wear that.”

There was a pause as everyone, Emira herself included, thought she was done. However, she was unable to hold herself back. “Did you know that colors can actually match? Like your outfit doesn’t have to look like it’s fighting itself for dominance. You should be mindful of wearing shorts because you have maybe the palest legs I’ve ever seen. I don’t think you can be trusted with that many pockets and finally… Blonde is not your color.”

Edric visibly deflated after the first assault, but by the end of Em’s barrage he was nearly ready to shrivel up and blow away. His head sunk and he quickly turned his hair back to its normal green.

Upon seeing a saddened Edric Blight, Luz was physically unable to keep herself from hopping off the sofa and rushing to his side. “Let’s look at some of the other stuff you picked out. Maybe we can put something cool together!”

“No you don’t. I need you to help monitor this rematch so we can make sure someone doesn’t cheat.” Emira grabbed Luz by the arm and kept her from running off.

Eda finally stood up and she triumphantly brushed her hair aside. “No rematch. You’re the one who challenged me to a duel. You lost, so you gotta own up to it.”

“But you cheated!” Emira couldn’t believe this woman would stoop so low as to insist that cheating was a legitimate victory.

“First of all, it’s only cheating if I get caught. You didn’t bother to check the rules until after the game was declared over. Secondly, I didn’t even have to cheat. I had a win in hand anyways.” The Owl Lady smugly showed off her hand of cards with a flourish.

Emira just stared at them in disbelief. Sure enough, all of Eda’s cards were higher value than her own. There would’ve been no way for her to win against this unless Eda played really, really poorly. “But.. But why cheat then? If you could’ve won honestly, why bother cheating?”

Eda sighed and tossed the cards carelessly back onto the coffee table. She crossed her arms and looked more serious than Emira had seen her before. “Time for your first Bad Girl Coven lesson.”

“My first what?” Emira felt like she had to have misheard her, there’s no such thing as a Bad Girl Coven, but didn’t get a chance to think about it before she was shushed and the Owl Lady continued.

“The people you’re gonna be up against aren’t going to play fair. They’re going to lie, cheat, steal, do whatever it takes to drag you down. It’s not going to be fair. It’s going to be cold and heartless and cruel. The best way to defend yourself is to be better at it than they are.” She stood firm with her arms crossed as she lectured Emira. She kept glancing at Edric to indicate that the lesson was for him too. She lacked her usual grin and air of childishness. The twins could tell in an instant that she was speaking from experience.

Before anyone could speak a word, her grin returned and she moved to a more relaxed stance. They’d never seen someone let out a breath with their whole body but somehow Eda managed it. 

“Which brings us to our next point. I won our little duel, so I get what I want. Heh, as always.” She reached into her hair and pulled out a wallet. Just how much stuff did she keep in there? She tossed the wallet to Luz who very nearly caught it, but it bounced out of her hand and landed on the ground. “Luz, go find Willow and go have a fun afternoon out. My treat. I need some alone time with the twins. Oh and take King. He’ll be excited to show off his power anyways.”

When Luz saw the money in the wallet she figured Eda must have made some horrible mistake. Or maybe she was finally getting to really trust her. No, it was definitely a mistake and she needed to hurry before Eda realized what she’d done.

“Sorry Ed! Good luck!” She said as she hurried into the kitchen and just as quickly hurried outside with a very confused King.

That just left Eda, the twins and Hooty. Luckily Eda was experienced enough to know how to get rid of Hooty for about an hour or so. “Hooty, take a dirt lunch!”

“Oh boy!” Hooty called out before slamming into the ground hard enough to pierce through as though it were paper. As Hooty continued to burrow deeper and deeper, the sounds of familiar yelling and screaming got fainter and fainter.

Now it was just Eda and the twins. For sure this time. She glared at them for a moment, seemingly sizing them up. Finally she broke her glare with a sigh as she sat down on the sofa and motioned for them to join her.

“What I want is information. Tell me -and tell me the truth- what in the name of the Titan is going on in Blight Manor?” It was hard for the twins to quite feel out what her expression was. She wasn’t angry, but she wasn’t smug or giddy either. She just looked… concerned.

“Whatever do you mean?” Emira asked with a smile that she hoped hid her nerves.  
‘  
“I tried to stay out of it. Really I did. But earlier this week I came into my house where I found you two have snuck in and he’s crying into your shoulder on my couch. Even before that it’s easy enough to tell that things aren’t right. With you two hanging around more and more I can’t help but worry. If I’m just being paranoid, then that’s fine but be honest with me.”

Neither one really knew what to think. Eda was a lot of things but they had never expected to add calm and motherly to the list. She sat patiently and reserved, which were admittedly two other words they never expected to add to the list of Eda Adjectives.

One glance over at Ed and Emira could tell that he was ready to tell her everything. Excited wasn’t the right word. Eager wasn’t it either. Open. That was the word she was looking for. Ed’s face was covered in a desire to be open. While Emira still held her reservations, she didn’t dare let that get in the way of this. For Ed’s sake.

“It started a few years ago…” Emira began telling Eda everything that led the twins to where they are today.

=======

Eda listened quietly as the twins took turns telling the story. She remained as calm and impartial as she could be, but there were definitely parts of the tale that she was unable to hide her displeasure and, to put it mildly, anger towards.

“And he’s basically one of the best things to happen to me, but I worry about what our parents could do to him. They could really hurt his future.” Edric said, having strayed a bit off topic from Eda’s original question.

“He sounds like a dork. But that would make you two pretty good for each other. Now that I’ve heard all about your love lives we need to dial the conversation back a bit. To the part where you give me one good reason not to storm Blight Manor with molotovs.” Eda’s expression went from her normal sarcastic one to the most piercing glare they’d ever seen. Were those the eyes of a bird of prey?

“Amity.” Emira said as though it were self-explanatory. Once it proved not to be, she decided to clarify. “We’re not really in a position to be able to take care of her just yet. Besides, attacking them is just going to get more of the coven’s ire brought down on your own head.”

“Eh, I’ve been excited about a bounty increase for a while now. ‘The Woman Worth Two Trillion Snails’!” She did, in fact, seem quite excited about the prospect. Her eyes lit up with that almost childlike enthusiasm.

“Think about Luz.” Edric added, which instantly caught Eda’s attention. “Things seem like they’re at a manageable level now, but if the heat gets turned up, she could be a pretty easy target.”

“Fine. The manor can stay for now. But if things ever change, and I mean for any reason, you come here straight away. I’ve already offered to let you stay here whenever you need to, but don’t worry about whether or not I’m here. That extends to Amity as well. And you can bring your boyfriends and girlfriends here, but the Owl House is not going to be Make-out City. And no drinking without me. Until you’re old enough to drink on your own, at which point… buy your own.”

Hearing Eda extend her seemingly limitless kindness in her own way brought a smile to Emira’s face and nearly tears to Edric. Even when they were on good terms with their parents the relationship had been far from warm. Not like this. Not like what they felt here, in the Owl House.

Ed wasted no time in wrapping Eda up in a hug which, upon seeing the confusion on the Owl Lady’s face, Emira quickly joined.

“No, not this! I still don’t get this. Is this infectious or something? Am I going to start doing this soon?” She hesitated a moment but eventually pushed them off of her and stood up away from the couch. She adjusted her mess of hair which seemed like an entirely wasted effort to Emira.

“Before we move on I want to lighten the mood a bit. Now I know it doesn’t make up for years of hateful neglect and abuse, but... do you want to hear about the time I sent your Mom to the Healer’s Office?” There was Eda’s trademark grin and immature pride.

“Yes, please!” The twins answered very enthusiastically.

“Alright, it was way back in the halls of Hexside. I had just gotten out of the Detention Track and I promised Lily that I wouldn’t cause any more trouble. I really was trying. But Odalia was one of those people who didn’t just like mocking people, she wanted to make sure they could hear her. I didn’t really pay any mind when she was talking about me. Most of what she was saying was true anyways. But then she started talking about my sister. So I walked up to her and challenged her to a Witch’s Duel on the spot. She got all smug and asked when and where the duel would be held, so I punched her right in the nose and told her it was here and now. I didn’t even get a good fight out of it because she ran off crying with her nose all bloody and crooked. I was hoping it would heal funny, but she had the money for some top rate healers. Anyways I got sent back to the Detention Track and apparently set some kind of record for fastest time since release to return.” As she told the story Eda dramatically stretched and moved around like she was preparing for a fight in real time.

Once done she took a deep breath. “Okay for this next part, we need to act fast before Luz gets back. I am not trying to imply anything, I just think this is an important question to ask. Have you two had any classes on self-defense against a fully grown witch?”

“Uh… no.” The twins answered in unison, suddenly feeling a deep dread at Eda’s implication. The idea that they might one day have to fight for their freedom.

“Alright then, let’s step outside.” Eda said, opening the door. Once she did, she was surprised to see Hooty retracted back into the door instead of submerged in the ground.

“After that cop-out duel with the card game I was worried we weren’t gonna get an action sequence!” Hooty yelled as dirt poured everywhere with each screeched word.

“Okay whatever this is, you have got to stop doing it.” Eda deadpanned.

=======

In the clearing in front of the Owl House, Edric and Emira stood opposite Eda. Emira couldn’t focus on Eda with Ed’s blinding colors still visible in the corner of her eye. She really wished he’d gotten changed first.

“Okay I’m an evil witch coming to hurt you. What is the first thing you do?” She took a single step forward to imply an advance, a smile on her face.

The twins decided to answer in the form of action, casting circles in unison and binding Eda’s arms with the same magical ropes they had attempted to use to subdue The Slitherbeast.

They knew they were in trouble when her smile became a wicked grin. 

“Close, but not quite.” She spun a circle and both ropes dissipated, leaving her arms completely free again. “If you’re going to bind anything, you bind the hands. And don’t just think about binding. Smashing, tearing, blasting anything goes when it’s your life on the line. But the first thing you should try is always to target the hands. If your aggressor can’t use their hands, then they can’t cast spells. Which makes staying safe a lot easier. Try again.”

They nodded in understanding and tried again, this time binding Eda’s hands at her wrists. They pulled their bindings taut and tried to keep her hands in place.

“Two things. First, I can still move my fingers like this.” To demonstrate, she twirled a finger, but didn’t actually cast a spell. “Second of all, this kind of binding is meaningless if your target is physically stronger than you. Remember how The Slitherbeast just used the bindings to pull you closer?”

Before the twins could answer, Eda suddenly pulled them forwards and off of their feet with a single tug. As soon as they were pulled into the air, the Owl Lady was easily able to free herself. 

“I think you understand the principle, so since we’re in a hurry, let’s go ahead and move on to the next major point. If you, for whatever reason, cannot prevent your aggressor from casting spells, what do you do?” She stood with her hands at her hips as she waited for the duo to get themselves up and dust off.

“Um, fight back?” Ed asked, unsure of whether or not there was some specific protocol he needed to remember.

“You do whatever it takes. Fight dirty and fight to win. But never forget that there’s nothing wrong with running away if you need to. Not that everyone will give you that option.” Eda took a few steps back, bringing the distance between them back to its starting distance. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Emira was the first to move, stomping a foot forward and spinning the biggest circle she could manage. From the circle a gout of fire poured out. It was a basic fire spell, but even it was dangerous when stretched to its limit like this.

Eda smiled and created a barrier that deflected the fire harmlessly around her and then kicked it forwards all in one swift motion. The barrier kept going until it collided with the circle that was generating the flame, breaking the spell.

Ed began his work while Eda and Em clashed. Making as many smaller circles as he could, each of which poured smoke out of it. By the time Eda’s attention was off of the fire spell, he’d already made a decent amount of cover, which he quickly pulled Emira into.

“Breaking line of sight is a good move if you have a plan, but you should never take your eyes off of an aggressor unless you’re certain you can get away. Because now you can’t see me either.” Eda, tired of hanging back, decided to charge into the cloud of smoke.

From behind the wall of smoke, Edric and Emira each cast half of a large spell circle to create a barrier that they hoped would be enough to stop Eda’s charge. They were rewarded with a loud ‘Thud’ as she ran face first into it. 

“Well played.” Eda said, making no effort to peel herself off of the barrier. After a moment, she finally backed away. “Alright it’s getting late, Luz should be home soon. We’ll have to do this again some other time to cover some other things, especially since the whole game changes if your opponent has a staff and a Palisman. For right now, though let’s give this one last shot. Don’t worry about hurting me. Show me the biggest, baddest thing you’ve got.”

Emira had a hard time pinning down this feeling in her chest. It was a restless buzzing. An anxious energy. As she watched Eda walk back to give the twins some breathing room again, she realized that she wanted to prove herself to Eda.

“Let me handle this, Ed. I’ll show her big and bad.” Emira stepped up again and this time closed her eyes and took a deep breath. This was a test. To see if she’d grown any. To see if she’d changed any.

She once again made the biggest spell circle she could manage on her own and conjured, for the second time in her life, an illusion of the Slitherbeast. Last time she had been unable to focus on anything but the version that she saw in nightmares. The one that hunted her relentlessly. This time went much better with the beast focused not on Emira, but on the Owl Lady.

“Kid, it’s gonna take more than an illusion to-” Eda was reminded of how solid and well-made the twins’ illusions are as the beast swatted her aside with a massive paw, sending her flying into a tree with a loud crack.

“Miss Eda!” Ed couldn’t help but call out.

“My back!” Eda yelled, seemingly struggling to get up. “My back feels amazing! Oh I needed that.”

The Slitherbeast didn’t wait and was already upon her once more, bringing it’s paw crashing down. The Owl Lady made a barrier as quick as she could, not to stop it but to force the paw off-course.

Eda hurried to her feet and started running to get behind it. She made a binding like the one the twins used earlier and wrapped it around one of the beast’s hind legs. She made sure not to pull it taut just yet, allowing it to turn around. It swung again and Eda used her free hand to again make another small barrier. It was easily shattered, but again served its function of parrying the blow.

As they watched Eda running circles around the monster and knocking it’s massive claws aside with seeming ease, the twins came to the conclusion that Eda Clawthorne must be the craziest witch on the entire isles. Because she was grinning from ear to ear. The Owl Lady was excited to rematch the Slitherbeast. She was having fun.

It didn’t take Eda long to get the beast’s legs all tangled up by her binding spell. It toppled over and struggled to right itself. As it tried to get up, Eda cast a spell on herself. A little Construction Track boost to give her the extra strength to pull this off.

She pulled the binding completely taut and began to spin, eventually managing to lift the Slitherbeast off the ground. Once she was satisfied with momentum, she pulled it crashing to the ground. It was a well made illusion, but it was no match for an impact like that. After a moment of silence the only evidence of the fight was her own labored breathing.

Actually her breathing was too ragged. Sure there were a million easier ways to deal with that Slitherbeast and sure she’d overdone it a bit trying to show off, but had it really wiped her out this badly? Then she saw it: a grey feather. The curse.

“All right! Good hustle! Your clothes should be clean by now so change out of that getup and I have to go take care of some kind of gross old lady junk!” Eda said as she tried to hurry past the twins and hoped that her exhaustion was more well-hidden than it felt like.

“Are you all right?” Edric asked as she hurried inside.

“I’m fine! Nothing to worry about.” She was clearly nervous and disheveled. She was clearly not fine. And then she coughed out a grey feather right in front of them. “That’s… That’s normal. Anyways, bye!”

As soon as she was gone, Ed glared at his sister. “Em, you overdid it. You should have just dispelled it before things got out of hand. I think she’s hurt.”

“Ed, I’m pretty sure the Owl Lady is literally invincible. But she did seem pretty exhausted. Let’s just go make sure she’s alright then we’ll get out of her hair.” Emira really didn’t want to think that she’d actually hurt basically the only supportive adult in their lives.

They hurried inside and up the stairs, heading straight to Eda’s room. Emira, as always, opened the door without so much as a knock.

Even though it had only been a minute or two, they found Eda surrounded by dozens of empty flasks, as she finished drinking one she tossed it aside and began drinking another. It disappeared fast and, once emptied, was discarded like the others. After spending a moment clutching at the gem on her chest Eda finally sighed.

“I just drank a whole month’s income in like two minutes. Ugh and it’s only getting worse.” Eda finally stood up and turned around, seeing Edric and Emira standing in the doorway confused. She simply stood there, mouth agape.

“Are you okay? What is all this?” Emira was the one to break the silence, well aside from the clatter of the glass flasks gathered around Eda’s feet.

Eda let out a loud, long frustrated groan. She kicked one of the flasks and it rolled away, to be forgotten about in some corner.

“I guess if you kids are going to be hanging around here more often then I should be honest with you too. I’m cursed. If I don’t take this elixir I turn into a monster. A really cool monster, but that’s hardly the point.” Eda grinned and was clearly trying to laugh off a very legitimate problem.

“We kinda knew. I mean, we’ve heard the stories about the Owl Lady, but I always thought the monster part was a metaphor.” Ed’s face was covered in worry. Eda quickly gave him a smile and ruffled his hair as if to calm him.

Emira grabbed one of the empty flasks and inspected it. “Do you normally have to drink this much?”

“Not usually. It’s been acting worse lately.” With that statement Edric was back to worry. “Aw, don't get all mopey on me Kid. I’m the strongest witch on the Boiling Isles, remember? No curse is beating me. Besides, I’ve been dealing with this for longer than you two have been alive.”

While Eda focused on consoling Edric, Emira spotted a half-full flask of elixir that must’ve escaped the Owl Lady’s notice in her haste to drink so much so quickly. She quickly put the empty one down in its place and took the half full one, trying to keep it out of Eda’s view.

Once they heard the sound of Luz returning, Eda quickly scooped up all the empty bottles and hid them in a panic. Edric grabbed a few bottles that had rolled a bit further away and helped her hide them. “All right. This part never happened. Go get changed out of that hideous outfit and head back home before you get in any trouble. We’re here if you need us and all that sappy crud.”

Emira quickly pulled Ed, who was about to go in for another hug, along with her out of Eda’s room and line of sight. She hurried him along and after getting Edric changed and saying goodbye to Luz, they began to head back to Blight Manor.

As they walked back Ed had a burning question for Emira.

“So what were you going to ask Miss Eda for if you’d won the duel?”

“Oh. I don’t guess it matters now, but I was gonna bleed her for as much money as I could. I’ve been saving stuff like birthday money from relatives and such for a while now, but if we want a place to live and stability for Amity while she finishes school then we’ll need a lot. More than I can get from a few gifts a year. Plus I was hoping to be able to get you your weekends back.” Emira shrugged. She didn’t see much use in dwelling on missed opportunities.

“That’s sweet of you, but working weekends won’t kill me.” Edric smiled at his sister’s thoughtfulness. 

“Ed this stuff with Viney and Jerbo is the closest we’ve maybe ever gotten to having a normal teenage experience. You deserve a chance to just be a normal guy with your idiot boyfriend and I’m sorry that they’re trying to take even that from you.” 

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you. Jerbo and I will find plenty of time together, so don’t worry about me. You just need to keep your eyes on Viney. I mean you have a griffin you have to compete with for her affection.” Edric kept his usual grin as Emira stared him down for that last comment.

“I am not competing with Puddles. Viney has enough love for both of us.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “Now shut up. We’re getting close and I need to keep this hidden.”

Ed looked as she finally revealed what she’d been holding behind her back: the stolen flask of Eda’s Elixir. “Oh, you got one too.”

Ed dispelled an invisibility spell and hanging on his belt loop was a plainly visible flask of the golden elixir. He quickly reapplied the invisibility spell since they were approaching the entrance.

“When did you get one?” Emira wasn’t surprised that he had the same instinct but she was definitely surprised that he found a chance to take one.

“It was while she was trying to hide everything from Luz. Saw one and snagged it. Not sure how I could actually use it to help, though. There’s gotta be something we can do.” Edric seemed like he was truly trying to figure out what the next step would be. He couldn’t just do nothing.

“I have a plan. We’re going to take it to an expert and see if we can’t figure out a better solution. You saw how many of these she was chugging. It’s not sustainable. Until Monday I’m gonna hide it in your room.” Emira said.

“What? Why my room? Hide it in your own room. I’m hiding mine in my room.”.

“No way. I was just in your room. They clearly don’t ever go in there because it is disgusting. It’s the perfect hiding place.” She grinned like she had thought of every possible angle.

They proceeded to bicker about whether or not Ed’s room was clean all the way up until they opened the door to Blight Manor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like action sequences are one of my biggest weaknesses, so it was probably not a good idea to have an extended action sequence!


	24. Blight Family Catch-Up Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amity catches up with the twins, learns how to send a text message and gets an extra credit opportunity!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amity's been out of the loop for too long, so it's time to bring her back in.

As soon as Amity could walk normally again, she would hunt Emira and Edric down to the ends of the Isles. After disappearing late Friday night they also failed to respond to any of her calls all day. With her crutches and a little bit of help from an Abomination (stairs are still tricky) she made it down to the dinner table at the usual time.

She already knew that their parents would be gone for the night on business, so the empty kitchen was no surprise. Amity was in the process of trying to figure out what her food options were when she heard the sounds of her siblings arriving. As they bickered about something outside, she quickly made her way over to a chair and turned it to face the door.

Edric stepped through the door first, whatever he was in the middle of saying died instantly when he saw Amity’s glare at them. “Hey Mittens. Shouldn’t you be resting up?”

“It’s hard to rest when I’m worried about my dear brother and sister who have apparently been so busy that they can’t answer any of my calls.” As she stared them down, she kept one hand on a crutch so that she could easily block their path if they tried to escape.

Edric pulled out his scroll and investigated. “I don’t have any missed calls from you.”

“That’s because last I heard you were poisoned, so I just assumed you were in a Healing Ward somewhere. Emira, on the other hand, should have exactly 26 missed calls from me.” Amity’s glare focused on Emira who was also looking at her scroll with her free hand.

“In my defense I slept through these.” Em said plainly as though that explained everything. “You know I almost never answer calls. Just learn how to send a message instead.”

“Have you not ever heard of calling back? It’s this revolutionary concept that lets you talk to someone without them calling you first.” Amity began a staredown with Emira.

“Why can’t you just send a message that says ‘Hey I was worried about you. Let me know what’s up’. Then I just respond whenever.” Honestly Mittens was like the world’s youngest old person sometimes.

“Just return calls! It’s not hard! Ugh anyways sit down. I want to get caught up and we also need to figure out food, since our parents are out for the night.” She finally broke the staring contest with Em to begin trying to turn her chair back towards the table.

“Oh they’re out? That’s a relief. This conversation won’t have to be whispered. Anyways I’ll be right back.” Emira started to move towards the door before being stopped by a crutch.

“No running off. Last time you ran off I didn’t see you again for over 12 hours. And what have you been hiding behind your back this whole time?”

“I’m not hiding anything!” Emira said as she still kept one hand behind her back. As Amity’s glare didn’t budge, Em realized that she really needed to get Eda to teach her how to hide things in her hair. It was wasted real estate like this. “Okay fine. It’s a secret. It’s nothing crazy, I just can’t talk about it right now. Let me just go put it up and then I’ll be right back down here. Ed, go see what food you can put together.”

Edric began checking cupboards to see what was available. Amity reluctantly let Emira go and tried her best to see what she was hiding as she left. “I hope you two aren’t getting involved with anything dangerous.”

“You mean more dangerous than our parents?” Edric asked as he moved his search to the fridge for leftovers. “Okay what was for dinner last night? Because there’s some leftovers from that. Other than that we’ve got some stuff for spaghetti.” (Author’s Note: I spent like twenty minutes trying to come up with a demonic fantasy name for spaghetti. I gave up.)

“That… can’t be all we have.” Amity said in disbelief. The cupboards were always full.

“No, but it’s all we have that I know how to make. My lack of useful life skills is probably our parents’ fault. Speaking of which I can’t believe they left you here alone with a broken leg and just some leftovers.” Ed shrugged and pulled the leftovers out to inspect them. It didn’t look terribly appetizing so spaghetti it is.

“Okay well we’ll add basic cooking and survival to the list of things you have to learn before you two are on your own. And I told them I’d be fine here by myself. I was hoping for a chance to talk to you two. I was starting to get worried that you weren’t coming back tonight.” Amity was genuinely worried for her older siblings. For a number of reasons. The idea that they would have to survive off of take out or spaghetti was but one worrying thing.

“You’re coming with us, you know. We’re not leaving you here alone with them.” Edric said as he began setting the things he would need on the countertop.

“I don’t think they’ll just let you take me with you. But thank you. That means a lot to me.” Amity didn’t want to undersell just how much that sentiment meant to her, but at the same time she didn’t want to pretend like everything would just go perfectly.

“Well we won’t give them a choice then. It’s not optional. You’re stuck with us.” Edric turned to face her with a grin on his face to emphasize the last part. As far as he was concerned their parents were less important than making sure Amity knew that she was loved.

“I appreciate it. I eagerly look forward to take out and spaghetti.” She laughed at her brother, but was genuinely touched.

“Ugh spaghetti? Really? That’s all you know how to cook, isn’t it?” Emira chided as she returned to the room, no longer hiding anything behind her back.

“Yes. Yes it is. But if you two are going to be such critics, I’ll look into expanding my repertoire of recipes. Oh maybe I’ll learn how to grill. That’s a manly man thing.” Edric seemed legitimately lost in thought as he contemplated the infinite possibilities of the grill.

“Are you gonna let the water boil out or what?” Emira smirked as she sat down at the table next to Amity. No, she had no plans on helping Ed cook. She did have plans on criticizing however.

As Ed rushed to add the pasta to the pot Amity cleared her throat. “I’m all for heckling Ed and I promise we can get right back to it, but I have to ask: What the heck happened on the Friday I missed? Em says she has a girlfriend and you have a boyfriend! And are you okay Ed? I spent all day worried about you.”

“Oh yeah. I guess you are kinda out of the loop, huh?” Once Ed seemed satisfied with the amount of pasta in the pot. It was definitely too much. It’s always too much. He joined them at the table, promising himself to not get too distracted and forget about it. “For starters, yeah I’m fine. Just got a little lovesick, that’s all.”

“Gross.” Emira and Amity deadpanned in unison.

“Well, that’s funny because from the half of the conversation I could hear, being lovesick sounds an awful lot like dairy allergies.” Amity enjoyed watching Ed deflate a bit as she called him out.

“Okay that’s not the important part. The important part is my amazing new boyfriend who you have now opened the floodgates for me to gush about!” Edric truly lit up at this point. It seemed like he hadn’t been properly given this chance and he intended to take it.

Amity and Emira both sat and listened patiently as Ed talked about Jerbo like he was the most amazing person in the world. He talked about his kind heart and soft eyes. He talked about his beautiful mess of hair and his hands which had all sorts of little cuts and scrapes from working with the flora of the isles yet were still so soft and warm.

If he didn’t interrupt himself to go check on the pasta the sisters legitimately feared that he might keep them here all night. He seemed satisfied with how long the pasta had been boiling and drained the pot. He didn’t really know how to make any fancy sauce from scratch but he did know how to reheat some prepackaged sauce. He got it out of the fridge and poured it into a saucepan to heat up. If he were better organized he would’ve had it heating slowly while the pasta boiled, but he was not.

“Alright, that just needs to heat for a minute. So, where was I?” Ed turned back to his sisters, clearly excited to keep gushing.

“You just finished. I think I found out what I’m allergic to and it’s listening to you ramble about boys with that dumb smile on your face.” Emira barely pretended like she wasn’t actually incredibly happy for and proud of her brother. But she had a duty as his sister to give him a hard time. 

“That was very sweet Ed, but not actually what I was asking about. What-” Amity began before Emira interrupted making a noise to imitate a buzzer going off.

“Wrong! We listened to Ed go on and on about his weiner boyfriend, so now we’re going to listen to me talk about the goddess of beauty incarnate.” 

Ed kept his eyes on the food but otherwise listened very closely as Em began describing the ‘Most Beautiful Witch on the Boiling Isles’. She talked about Viney’s smile and her angelic laughter. She talked about the boundless love and compassion and just genuine warmth that the witch radiated. It was mid-ramble when Ed gave everyone their plate.

Of course Emira couldn’t risk being seen as too mushy. That was more of Edric’s thing. So, she ended the rant in a way she felt like was on brand. “Oh yeah and she can pick me up like I was weightless.”

“You’ve both reached a level of sickeningly sweet that I didn’t think either of you were capable of. So what exactly prompted you guys to move things forward? What happened on Friday?” Amity asked between bites of Ed’s Famous Spaghetti with Reheated Sauce and Nothing Else. Her favorite.

“Oh! Um, boy Friday was eventful. I’m pretty sure Mom pulled strings to get a coven inspection called on Hexside to investigate the rumors of mixed magic. We had to help hide all the multi-track students and things got kinda dire and scary.” Emira explained between bites.

“I wish I could say I’m surprised. I saw her at breakfast that morning and she seemed like she was in a good mood. Never a good sign. I hope everyone is alright.” Amity could only imagine what a disaster that debacle was.

“Yeah, don’t worry Mittens we kept your Luz safe and sound.” Ed said in a singsong 

Amity glared at him for that specific word choice. ‘Your’ Luz. Luz isn’t anybody’s. Definitely not hers. The best course of action is to ignore him and move on.

“So what did they start going out with you as thanks for being their heroic saviors?”

“Ew, no. We didn’t do it to guilt them or whatever. They’re our friends, we couldn’t just do nothing. We just had some time to talk after school and one thing led to another.” Emira’s face scrunched in disgust at Amity’s suggestion.

“Sorry, that was a bad joke. I don’t really think you two would do that. I hate that I wasn’t there. I could’ve helped somehow, though maybe not so much with my leg like this. It sounds like everything worked out though!” Amity finished up her plate and pushed it away. The medicines she was taking left her with a severely reduced appetite so a single helping would do for now.

“It’s a shame you weren’t there with us. You and Luz probably would’ve had a passionate smooch in the heat of the moment.” Ed teased as he took Emira’s plate because she impatiently waved it around silently demanding a refill.

“I would not!” Amity called out. “I’m not just sitting over here chomping at the bit for a chance to shack up with Luz. I’m really glad that things have worked out for you guys. Really, I am. But I’m still in the figuring things out part. You guys have had a few years to come to terms with stuff like this. It hasn’t been very long at all for me.”

“I was just teasing. There’s no rush Mittens. It’s not like Luz is going anywhere.” Ed clarified as he got Emira and himself a second helping.

“Let’s talk about this a bit Amity.” Em said as she gripped Amity’s shoulder. It was always jarring to hear Amity instead of Mittens and usually signaled a shift in conversation tone. “How is the figuring things out going? I remember when I first figured out that I liked girls I had a lot of… negative feelings about myself for a while. I was lucky enough to have Ed for reassurance and I want to make sure you’ve got someone there for you too.”

If she was being honest, Amity still wasn’t very good at opening up to other people. As much as she loved her siblings it still didn’t come naturally to just talk about things like this. Any other time and she would brush this whole thing off, but who even knew when they would have the house to themselves again?

“I guess I would say that’s a fair assessment. I’m still not used to finding other girls attractive. Like I’ll think ‘Oh, she’s cute’ and then feel like it’s wrong. I’ve kinda gotten used to feeling like that with Luz, but other girls still make my brain chastise me.”

Emira had to fight her knee-jerk reaction to tease Amity. Now was not the time.

“If I can be honest, that kinda never goes away on some level. I mean, I’m proud of who I am by this point. And girls? Can’t get enough of ‘em. But there’s a lot of stuff we were taught growing up that still eats at me from time to time. It’s like a weird reflex I guess. But you can’t listen to what you’ve been taught by these goons. It’s like an unlearning process if that makes any sense.” 

“That makes sense, but it’s not as encouraging as I’d like. I wish there was a spell to make this kinda stuff just disappear.” Amity sighed as she imagined a world where she wouldn’t get in her own way every step of the way.

“Until magic can advance to such a point, we’ll sadly just have to love and support each other instead.” Edric said as soon as he was done basically inhaling an entire plate of spaghetti in one breath. A bold move for someone whose stomach was likely still recovering.

“I can’t take you seriously with sauce all over your face.” Amity said with all the love she could muster. “So, uh, do you deal with any of that Ed? Or is it any easier for you?”

Ed stole Amity’s napkin and used it to wipe his face off despite his own being easier to reach. It was a matter of principle. “Yeah, of course. Back when I was like ten or so I got a whole speech about how since I was the only boy I would be responsible for the Blight name. As you know, that worked out pretty well. The point is yeah I still feel… guilty? Is that the right word? Let’s go with guilty. I still feel guilty for finding guys hot. Watching the Men’s Grudgby League is like a wildly swinging pendulum of emotions.”

Emira scoffed at hearing the words ‘guys’ and ‘hot’ next to each other and again at the mention of the disgrace that was the Men’s Grudgby League. Grudgby was a sport dominated primarily by women and men were, of course, allowed to play as well, but eventually a collection of fragile egos got together and formed the Men’s Grudgby League.

Though she understood what he meant from watching the regular, more legitimate Grudgby League. All those beautiful women running around in cute uniforms… sweating?! It was almost enough to make her care about the sport. Almost.

“Okay we’re drifting off topic!” Emira said breaking herself out of her very off-topic thoughts. “You said that you were getting used to feeling that way about Luz, but that other girls were still throwing you off. So… what other girls do you think are cute?”

“Oh! That’s a good point!” Ed seemed very suddenly excited.

Amity’s cheeks were burning already. These two really knew how to get under her skin.

“Don’t worry Mittens this is a judgement free zone. Unless you say Boscha in which case there’s only a little judgement.” Emira was trying to look as sincere as possible but it wasn’t as genuine as she wanted since she couldn’t stop herself from grinning.

“Ugh, no. I mean Boscha looks pretty good in a Grudgby uniform, but her personality is intolerable on a good day. Hard pass. Like I said I still feel kinda weird talking about stuff like this but um, Skara is super pretty.” Amity wasn’t quite as red as Luz was able to render her, but she was still clearly embarrassed to even say something like that out loud.

“Which one is that?” Ed still didn’t really know or care to know Amity’s friend group. Aside from Boscha who the twins were now quite familiar with.

“She’s in the Bard Track and she’s usually seen orbiting Boscha. But when you get her away from Boscha she’s actually pretty sweet and funny. She’s been sending me get well soon messages every day. Sometimes more than one a day.”

To demonstrate Amity pulled out her scroll which, sure enough, had a missed message. She opened it and confetti literally blasted out of her scroll. “Sending good wishes!! Get well soon!!” the message said with a long string of emojis appended to the end. The message history was full of similar messages all of which had gone without response.

“Aw, that’s pretty sweet!” Ed said as he picked up some of the confetti and crammed it in his pocket. You never know when you’ll need confetti. “She sounds nice.”

“Yeah but she can be a little bit annoying when she’s not on her own. Kinda depends on who you catch her with.” Amity looked at the very enthusiastic and well-intentioned message almost like she intended to respond to it. Almost.

“Well, I just want to stress that there’s nothing wrong with feeling what you’re feeling. We’ve been taught a lot of nonsense and it’s just that. Nonsense. Girls are cute and there’s nothing anyone can say to stop us.” Emira decided to bring the topic back around and smiled as warmly as she could.

“Thank you. I’m not sure I can even put how grateful I am into words, so… Thank you.” Amity smiled warmly at her siblings. She had no idea how she would get through this or how she would have even made it to this point without them. They deserved so much better than they’ve been getting. Which brought another point to her mind.

“Sorry for switching topics all of a sudden, but have you two heard the rumors that are going around about you? I’ve, uh, had a lot of time to mill around on Pentstagram the past couple days.”

Ed and Em exchanged worried looks for a moment. In their experience rumors were never good. Living in their little isolated bubble meant they were insulated from most of it, but they heard odd and end things from time to time. Being Blights meant being talked about.

“No, we haven’t, but you really shouldn’t worry about the rumor mill. It’s just exhausting.” Edric punctuated his sentence with an exasperated sigh. He was preemptively exhausted.

“Well I thought this rumor might interest you. Word on the street is that you two are dating the Dual Track kids in secret. Now before you get too worried about a rumor getting any sort of facts correct, it’s not quite right. The rumor is that Ed is dating Viney while Em and Jerbo are shacking up behind each other’s backs.” Amity watched the change in expression from disinterest to mild horror on the twins’ faces.

“Ugh, I should’ve guessed this. I was hanging out with him to try to get some help with asking Viney out. And Ed’s been spending a lot of time with my girl because they’ve got some workout routine or whatever.” Emira said as she joined Edric in the land of the ‘Already Exhausted with this Conversation’.

“I guess the truth would be a juicier story. It’s probably just a matter of time until they get their facts straightened out.” Edric stared at the entrance that led to the main foyer. It was in the distance but from here he could see their parents’ study. It was only a matter of time until the truth reached their ears.

“Maybe not. I think you guys should lean into the rumors. If you play your cards right then you can spend time with your lovey dovey wovey tovey…” Amity looked like she was snapping out of some kind of trance. “Sorry I just completely distracted myself there. What was I saying? Oh, if you play your cards right you can spend time with your boyfriend and girlfriend in plain sight. You just need to, you know, act like you’re dating the other one at least part of the time. People will fill in the blanks themselves.”

Emira seemed to be considering it, heck Amity could practically see the gears turning in her head. Edric, however, looked considerably less enthusiastic. Given what a hopeless romantic Ed actually was, it wasn’t hard to guess what he was thinking.

“Ed, I know you want to be all gross and lovey in public but I’m not sure that will be an option for you without running the risk of… them finding out. I know it hasn’t escaped you two what they could do to their futures. Especially with them Dual Tracking. I’m sorry.” Amity truly felt for her brother. Plus, she could definitely understand his feelings. Not that she, you know, has anyone to be all lovey with.

“It’s fine.” He finally said with a sigh that meant it wasn’t fine at all. “I probably wouldn’t be brave enough to act like that in public anyways. And you’re right. We need to try to protect them as well as ourselves. We’ll talk to them about it soon.”

Ed leaned back in his chair and imagined himself pretending to be in love with Viney. It wasn’t like he disliked her or anything. Heck they even get along really well. It probably wouldn’t be that hard. But the thought of always making sure to walk apart from Jerbo drove a sharp pain into his heart. Was it normal to be this attached to your boyfriend this quickly? No, definitely not.

Then everyone got to see Edric freeze in place as though he were startled by a monster. It was clearly visible on his face that he’d realized something.

“Wow. Okay this is going to sound bad, but I think I realized what we inherited from Mom.”

“Trauma?” Both Emira and Amity asked with differing levels of enthusiasm.

“No, not that. Well, not just that. We’re all into people with brown hair! Jerbo, Viney and Luz. They’ve all got brown hair.” His expression was caught somewhere between his usual smirk and dawning realization. 

“I guess you’re right but framing it like that almost makes it sound like a bad thing.” Amity said with a smile. Leave it to Ed to lighten the mood.

“Not really the note I was hoping to end on, but sure.” Emira stood up from her chair and pushed her empty plate away for someone else to clean up. “I barely got any sleep so I’m headed to bed. We love you and we’ll be here if you need us, you know the drill.”

She stood up and started to head towards her room when she suddenly stopped and turned around. “Are you going to need any help getting up the stairs?”

“No, I’m starting to get the hang of stairs. Besides I can get help from an Abomination. Thank you for the offer, though.” Amity threw a smile towards her sister. Truthfully she really wasn’t looking forward to going back up the stairs but she was far from helpless.

Ed picked up the plates and tossed them into the sink to be cleaned later. He was also tired and didn’t feel like cleaning them now. “I could carry you up if you wanted. You’re light and I’m big and strong.”

Amity scanned her scrawny brother up and down. “Ed, if you can pick me up without toppling over I’ll be surprised and impressed.”

Edric scoffed and, now with something to prove, scooped his sister up and began walking towards the stairs. She didn’t say a word the whole trip up, bracing herself for when he would inevitably collapse and she would need to make sure her leg didn’t hit the floor. To her utter shock and surprise he made it all the way to the top with seeming ease.

At least until he smacked her broken leg against the doorway to her room. He was in the middle of a triumphant stride and simply misjudged how far her cast was sticking out. It was a pretty heavy smack too, which Amity quickly made apparent.

With Amity letting loose a string of promises to throttle him, Ed hurried to the bed and got her set down and quickly handed her some of her painkiller serum which she eagerly downed.

“Thank you for carrying me.” She said with a glare on her face and venom in her voice. She was grateful for his thoughtful attempt to help, but it was hard to focus on those feelings with her leg in agony.

Under Amity’s glare Ed offered numerous apologies before finally leaving the room. One final muffled apology could be heard from outside before he presumably went to bed.

The only thing left for Amity now was to wait for the painkiller to kill this pain and put her to sleep. As she waited she opened her scroll again. It still had her message history with Skara pulled open. Amity never sent messages, always preferring to speak in person or call. As she stared at the wall of kind words and well wishes, she began typing.

For possibly the first time she decided to simply send a response and let that be that. Who knew when she would get to see Skara in person again? It wasn’t right to ignore someone who was honestly trying to do something kind.

“Thank you for the well wishes!” It was the best she could think to type without over-explaining or sounding like a robot that was just pretending to be a person. It was a matter of moments before another blast of confetti and corresponding message arrived. It had taken Amity so long to type her message while Skara responded nearly instantly.

“OMT! I never thought I’d get a response from THE Amity Blight! I hope you’re getting all nice and pampered!” It was followed by another incomprehensible string of emojis.

“Hardly. Edric nearly rebroke my leg trying to help me get back to my room.”

Amity didn’t even get a moment to set her scroll down before another message arrived. At least confetti didn’t pop out this time.

“You would think he would know how to treat a lady! I hope he’s treating his girlfriend better.”

And it was back to the gossip. Amity knew she wasn’t like most people her age, but was gossip really that important? Did it need to find its way into every conversation? It really isn’t that hard to mind your own business. She didn’t have much time to dwell on it as the painkiller finally pulled her into sleep.

Amity had a long, restful sleep that was only interrupted by a ringing on her scroll. It was the next morning. Early the next morning. It took a moment for her to recognize the name of the caller. Principal Bump.

“Good morning, Principal Bump?” She asked as she attempted to sound more awake. She failed to hide her grogginess.

“I apologize for calling you this early on a weekend, but I have an extra credit opportunity here and I wanted to give you first choice.” 

Amity sighed. Of course it was about extra credit. It’s always about extra credit. She nearly habitually said yes, but quickly thought back to her resolution to stop doing whatever her parents wanted. It was time for her to start making choices for herself. It was time to stop giving up all of her free time to extra credit.

Before she could respond, Bump continued. “I believe you’re familiar with Luz the Human? After discussing matters with the professor, we believe she’s in need of an Abominations tutor. I can hardly think of anyone more qualified than you, so I wanted to at least offer. I understand you’re still recovering from the Grudgby incident, so I’m not expecting a yes here.”

Of course it would be suspicious if she were to suddenly start turning down all extra credit chances. Yes it wouldn’t do to just suddenly turn down every extra credit chance. She should probably take this one, just to keep things safe. And no other reason. No other reason whatsoever.

“I’ll do it!” Amity quickly responded suddenly much more alert.

“Excellent! Monday after classes I’ll make sure she heads straight towards Blight Manor.” Bump sounded pleased to have Amity watching over Luz.

Dread crept into Amity’s heart. Luz couldn’t be allowed anywhere near Blight Manor. She couldn’t be allowed even close to those monsters. Amity didn’t know if she would be able to stop herself from defending the human from her mother’s scrutiny or her father’s ire. At the very least, she hoped she wouldn’t be able to stop herself.

“That won’t be necessary! I can come to the Owl House.” She said in a panic.

There was a long and deafening silence as Bump seemed to consider her proposition.

“Are you certain? You need to allow your leg to recover. You haven’t been out long and your presence is already missed, I assure you.” His voice was dripping with genuine concern that he didn’t provide to most students. Amity was definitely on his good side.

“Oh yeah, I’ll be fine!” Amity laughed nervously. “I need to get out of this house for a bit anyways. You know, stretch my legs a bit?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what you’re not supposed to be doing.” Bump sounded unamused.

Amity needed to come up with some way to convince Bump to not send Luz here. Anything.

“Okay, listen, Ed and Em are driving me crazy. If I can get out of the house a couple days a week and get extra credit for it, then I would be beyond grateful. I promise I’ll be safe!” She pleaded with him. She was lying about Ed and Em, but Bump would definitely believe that.

“Ah. That does sound dire. Well, I’m still nervous about sending you somewhere like the Owl House, but if you’re sure about it, then I’d hate to keep you cooped up any longer. I’ll make sure she knows to expect you. Sorry again about contacting you this early but I thank you for taking up this task. As you know, Luz is something of a special case so I’m honestly not sure if I could even trust anyone else.”

“Oh, she’s a special case for sure.” Amity said warmly. “Thank you for this chance, sir!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always thank you all for your support!


	25. Skara's Big Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skara has a big day at Hexside!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for me to test everyone's patience with a Skara PoV chapter.

After an uneventful weekend Skara made her way towards Hexside. She had a pretty standard routine in these early mornings. First and most important was to start her day off right. As she approached the school she quickly sent a morning greeting to Amity. Poor thing was all cooped up at home and being tortured by her siblings from the sounds of it. She would take Boscha and go visit her, but the “Star Captain'' has been acting weird ever since that Grudgby game.

Any attempt to talk to her about Amity was quickly deflected into rambling about whatever injustice the twins had inflicted on her this time. Boscha was completely obsessed with this war on the twins and Skara had to hear about it at every available chance.

She snapped out of her thoughts and finished her message to Amity and gave it a fun confetti enchantment. Everyone loves confetti. Almost exactly as she hit send, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.

She nearly called out for help reflexively, but was quickly shushed by Boscha who had pulled her aside. Boscha had her hood pulled over her head and a dark pair of shades on. Her uncovered third eye glanced around nervously.

“Shh! Keep it down.” She hissed as though Skara should have known any better.

“Alright. What’s with the getup?”

Boscha lowered her shades to where all three of her grey-blue eyes were making direct contact with Skara. “Today is revenge day. I’m not going to just sit around and take it anymore. The twins are going down.”

“Oh.” Skara said unenthusiastically, “Well, that sounds exciting. Best of luck to you!”

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this. I need your help.” Boscha put the glasses back on and continued to look around as though they were being watched. “You heard what they did during the inspection on Friday. And Bump didn’t even do anything to them. The Blights are above the law, I guess. I’ve been thinking about it and if I want justice, I’m going to have to seize it myself.”

“Okay.” Skara took a deep breath. Conflict was far from her strong point. In fact she was willing to do whatever it took to keep her friends happy. Be whoever she needed to be. That thought didn’t bother her as much as it probably should have. “Are you sure the twins are really targeting you? And are you sure it's over the Grudgby game? Maybe if I didn’t know them at all I would assume that they were protective older siblings, but you’ve been to Blight Manor before. They barely even acknowledge Amity. I don’t think they even like her.”

“You don’t believe me.” Boscha said, sounding shocked and maybe even slightly hurt. If Boscha could feel hurt that is. “Skara you have got to believe me. I am not making this up!”

“I don’t think you’re making it up. It definitely sounds like something they would do. I just… I worry that you’re using this as an excuse to avoid talking about other issues.” Skara tried to give her warmest smile to the increasingly irritated Boscha.

“Uh those two are my issues. I’m not avoiding anything. In fact, I plan to tackle this problem.” Boscha’s irritation quickly morphed into a smug pride. “And if I’m going to do this, I need my go-to girl. Come on, help me out?”

Every part of Skara’s brain was screaming at her to say no and just attend classes normally. Boscha is refusing to acknowledge her part in all of this and the twins are experienced veterans of the troublemaker scene. It was a recipe for disaster. However she was completely and totally unable to say no to Boscha. She already knew it was going to get her into trouble someday. Maybe today was that day.

“Sure.” she said with a smile to hide her resignation.

Boscha lit up at hearing that familiar approval. Of course Skara would roll with her. As she should. “Great. Phase one happens now. They always show up as late as they can get away with. So we wait for them.”

“Phase one?” Skara asked, realizing that this was likely going to be her entire day.

“Yep. Phase two is at lunch break. Phase three is after classes. I’ve got this all planned out.” Boscha absolutely beamed as she stuck her head around the corner and scanned for her targets.

“Okay and I just want to throw this out there, what if this makes them retaliate more?” Skara asked nervously, already knowing what kind of reaction Boscha would have.

Boscha turned to face her and launched into her tirade about the offenses they had committed against her. She rattled off several things that the twins had done, like the slime in the locker and opening a box of spiders in that same locker, but she also listed off things that the twins hadn’t done but she just assumed they were somehow behind it. Not that either of them knew which was which. She painted herself as a blameless victim who was being forced to jump at shadows. And emphasized that she was not going to be just a victim.

“Okay! Sorry, I just don’t want things to get any worse. I already said I would help out. So what happens in Phase One?” She quickly tried to get back on her friend’s good side.

Boscha’s attitude quickly flipped back around again as she pulled out a glass bottle full of a green potion of some sort. “This is what happens in Phase One.”

Skara didn’t know the first thing about potions. She didn’t really care to know anything about potions. The whole subject bored her tears. It was all recipes and memorization. No room for creativity or to really breathe. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on why the Bard Track was the best.

“Let’s pretend for a second that I don’t know what that is.” She said as she reached for the bottle.

Boscha quickly moved it out of Skara’s reach. “This is a very volatile brew. Once you shake it up, you’ve got about ten seconds before it goes boom. The twins always spend their time before classes hanging out with their Dual Track lovers, so we can toss this their way and spray the whole lot of them.”

That sounded extreme, but protesting wasn’t going to do any good at this point. “Is this going to blow them up?”

“What? No. They’ll just be all sticky for like a day. I’m not gonna kill them. I mean they might step on broken glass, but they’ve got shoes on.” The three-eyed witch indignantly clarified as she turned back to scan for their targets.

“Do you really need me for this? I’m not actually doing anything.”

“Yes, it’s called moral support. Every Star Captain needs a cheerleader.”

It was a bit longer of waiting, with Skara getting anxious about being late when they finally saw them. The group was all crowded together and chatting, presumably getting ready to part ways for the day.

She looked closely, trying to see if she could catch them giving their dates parting kisses. In her experience the twins had been very cold and distant. It was hard to imagine them being mushy around anyone. Whatever they were talking about, it didn’t seem like a conversation that any of them were enjoying. Some bad news? Probably related to the Blight parents.

A glance over showed Boscha was gone, having darted over to hiding behind a bush that was a bit closer. She motioned for Skara to join her, which she quickly did. Once she joined her friend in hiding she looked to see if she’d drawn their attention. It looked like they were too deeply involved in their chat to care about the world around them.

“Aw.. Edric looks so sad.” She said quietly, to a quietly hissed shush from Boscha.

Boscha vigorously shook the bottled potion and once she seemed satisfied with its fizzling rolled it along the ground towards the group.

She watched eagerly as nothing moved it off course. It was headed in a perfect straight line to stop right in the dead center of the huddled group. The mere ten seconds crawled by as it moved in what felt like slow motion. Once it got close enough the dog of the Dual Track group raised up one of his hind legs and stopped the bottle's advance before batting it back the way it came all without even so much as looking away.

It happened so quickly that the duo in hiding didn’t even have a chance to process it, let alone get away as the bottle rolled right back at Boscha’s feet before detonating as had been predicted.

With a loud bang followed by screaming from the girls as they ran out from their cover, covered in the sticky green fluid. They managed to escape and retreated back to their lockers.

“My eye!” Boscha called out once they were away from the other group. Pointing to the eye on her forehead she resumed, “Ugh, I closed my eye and now it’s stuck closed.”

“This is gross. Well this is probably karma.” Skara tried to remove some leaves that were stuck to her uniform, but it just got stuck to her hand in the process. Hopefully Boscha had learned some kind of lesson from this. But probably not.

“The dog! I didn’t even think about the dog. Of course he heard us. He’s in Potions and what was the other track?” She grumbled as she tried and failed to remove the shades from her face. Based on that response, no she definitely had not learned anything.

“I don’t know. But maybe we shouldn’t risk anything else blowing up in our faces. Let’s just get this cleaned off and go to classes.” The Bard student tried to be as optimistic as she could about the situation.

“It doesn’t clean off. It’s a liquid adhesive with a lifespan of about a day, like I said earlier. This sucks. I could probably brew up something to remove it if everything didn’t stick to my hands.” She wasn’t even going to try to open her locker. Ignoring the fact that the twins probably rigged it with explosives or something, she knew she wouldn’t be able to remove her hand once it was stuck.

Skara, however, didn’t seem to have considered that angle, giving her locker a pet to get it to open its mouth. It opened up and waited for her to remove her hand and retrieve her books. She struggled and failed to remove her hand which apparently distressed the locker enough for it to spit all of her books and papers out onto her. Somehow her hand came free, but all of the other things stuck to her were definitely not coming off, not even as she tumbled to the floor..

Boscha grabbed Skara’s hand and helped her get up, grateful for her time in Grudgby giving her the arm strength to peel her friend up with only one hand. Once they were up it was quickly apparent that they would be holding hands until they could get the adhesive removed.

“Okay let’s head over to the Potions homeroom. The professor can probably get us fixed up quick.” Boscha started walking ahead, basically dragging her friend along. Though she surprised Skara by slowing down once it was apparent the pace was too fast for her to comfortably follow along.

Covered in green fluid with leaves and papers stuck to them and marching along hand in hand the two were quite a sight for the few students left in the hallways. Though Boscha’s glare was enough to deter anyone from looking for more than a second.

They walked in silence for the most part but once the stares from other students couldn’t be ignored Boscha finally spoke up. “I hope this doesn’t start any weird rumors. I wouldn’t want something stupid like this to upset your boyfriend.”

Skara knew that rumors got spread around for much, much less and that before the end of the day there would probably be some kind of scandal about all this. They would deal with that when the time came. Besides she was with Boscha enough that odd and end rumors about the two would crop up from time to time. Nothing new. “Oh, we broke up.”

That didn’t surprise Boscha. Skara was basically never in a relationship for more than a week. It was a constantly rotating cast of guys that she had no desire to waste time trying to remember. She wondered how the girl herself remembered which guy she was with this week. “Of course you did.”

“What does that mean?”

“Don’t get all huffy. You go through guys like they’re nothing.” She said with a smirk.

That didn’t make Skara happy to hear. It didn’t make her happy at all. “You make it sound like I’m just playing with them. It’s not like that.”

Boscha either failed to notice her displeasure, or didn’t care because her response was a simple, smug. “What is it like then?”

“It’s about feeling a connection, you know? If I’m not feeling a connection with somebody I’m not going to pretend like I am. Better to end things sooner rather than later. Now, if we’re gonna talk about love lives, then you’ve gotta tell me why the Star Captain of the Banshees has been single for as long as I’ve known her.” Her expression started out morose as she thought about the lack of a real connection with any of the people she’d gone out with. Most were fun and some were really nice, but the relationship was always lacking a spark. But once the chance to maybe get Boscha to open up was thrown out, she lit up excitedly.

“Not interested. That’s all. I’d rather focus on Grudgby.” Boscha kept the conversation as short as always.

“You only get to be a teenager once. You should see if you can’t find somebody nice. I bet I could hook you up with someone.” The bard student beamed that ever glowing smile. Despite Boscha’s attempts at neutralizing the conversation.

“I already told you. You only get to be every age once. Being a teenager isn’t anything special. Don’t try to hook me up with anyone. Now, shut up. We’re here.” Her tone made it very clear that conversation was over as they approached the entrance to the Potions homeroom.

Boscha seemed to spend a while trying to figure out how to open the door without becoming stuck to it. Eventually a familiar face rounded the corner. The Dual Track canine. His expression was impossible to read but seemed smug somehow. He was clearly scanning the duo up and down.

“You’re running a little late. Hold the door open for us so we can get in.” Boscha ordered him.

He let out a low bark that they couldn’t understand and opened the door by pushing his body against it. He opened it just enough to slip through and eagerly kicked it shut behind himself before the other students could stop it from closing.

“You stupid dog!” Boscha screamed from behind the closed door which had the unintended side effect of getting the professor’s attention. As well as the attention of all the students in the classroom. 

The professor hurried to the door and Boscha wasted no time filling them in on their situation, though she lied about how they got covered in the adhesive to begin with. Eventually they were let inside the classroom as the professor promised to remove the green glue.

Skara didn’t like missing class. She actually really loved pretty much all of her time spent in classes. And sitting at the front of the Potions class on display covered in her now ruined notes and books was hardly her ideal way to spend her first period. The process of brewing the potion to remove the adhesive was significantly slowed down as the professor took the chance to make it a learning experience for the class. And so the entire class was taken through the process step by painstaking step.

“Can you believe half of these morons are only learning something like this for the first time?” Boscha whispered, mostly bragging about her own skills in Potions. Grudgby might be her main focus, but Boscha was quite accomplished in her track. Maybe even top student, but if she was she didn’t hang on to it like Amity did. Skara just nodded absently.

Finally with the class period nearly over it seemed that the lesson had been taught in full. And to Skara’s horror they were going to be used as test subjects to see if the students had brewed the solution correctly.

One by one each student approached them and poured a small flask of the potion onto the duo. Each failed to remove the adhesive.

Boscha, of course, criticized each failed attempt. “Too much bloodroot.”, “You didn’t boil it long enough.”, “Did you even try?”

The last student to approach the duo was the canine that had haunted their day. The bottled potion hung from his neck by a string. Using his teeth he pulled the cork off, spat it aside and then grasped the bottle’s handle in his mouth tilting his head to pour the solution onto them.

Boscha was ready to critique but noticed that her hand was easily removed from Skara’s. It was a perfect brew. The professor quickly praised the dog, apparently named Barcus, for a job well done.

“Thank you Barcus!” Skara said with a smile that he paid little mind as he headed out of the classroom.

“Close your eyes!” The professor warned mere moments before dousing the girls in an entire cauldron’s worth of the potion. Skara yelped in surprise and learned that this particular potion tastes terrible. “We should do hands on lessons more often.”

No longer sticky but now soaking wet Skara didn’t feel like their situation had improved much. On the professor’s instruction they went to the girl’s locker room for a quick shower and change of uniform. Once that was done, she met back up with Boscha.

“It’s good to have all three eyes in use again. I don’t know how people get by with only two. Gives me a headache. Anyways, sorry for making you miss class. I didn’t mean for things to turn out like this.” Boscha said, seeming as close to embarrassed as she could likely get.

Skara lit up with excitement. An apology from Boscha? Heck yeah! That’s progress! Maybe being a test dummy for the entire potions class had humbled her a bit. “It’s really not a big deal. I just-”

“Cool. We’ll meet back up in the cafeteria for Phase Two.” Boscha interrupted and walked away, eager to get to her normal classes.

“Or maybe this really is going to be my whole day.” Skara sighed.

=======

Classes went by slowly, but not slowly enough for Skara. She didn’t want to admit it, but she truly, truly dreaded when it was time for lunch. Unfortunately they managed to wrap up the lesson a little early which meant the last twenty minutes or so of class was free time. She pulled out her scroll which she already knew would make the remaining time go by too quickly.

She had a message from Amity. She’d probably gotten it while she was unable to check her scroll without getting it stuck.

“Thanks. Hope today is going well.” Aw, well wishes from Amity. 

“It’s been a rough morning. Boscha is on a rampage and I think I’m going to have to deal with it all day.”

Amity was clearly getting a bit better at messaging because this response came faster than she expected it to.

“Sorry to hear that. How is she doing? Haven’t heard from her since the game.”

Skara just stared at her scroll in disbelief. She hadn’t heard from Boscha since the game? Boscha hadn’t sent her any kind of message at all? Unbelievable. The more she thought about it, the more upset it made her. Sure things were kind of weird with Amity spending more time with her other friend group, but to just abandon her like this?

She tried several different responses but all of them came across more panicked or extreme than she wanted to bother Amity with right now. So, she just chose not to respond for now.

She elected instead to scroll Pentstagram. It was time to see if there were rumors circulating already or if they’d gotten lucky. Sure enough it only took a few moments of scrolling to see a picture taken of her and Boscha holding hands as they stomped through the hallway. She had to admit the glare Boscha gave the cameraman looked like she was defending poor Skara.

Of course Skara herself looked pathetic covered in junk and being pulled along like that. The caption was about a scandal on the Grudgby Team. Skara was technically on the team, she supposed. But a team is only three people so she was a fourth that was supposed to only play in emergencies. Truth be told, she hated the game and was happy that she never actually had to play. The uniform was cute but that was about the only good thing.

But then… Why was she on the team? If she hated it then she should quit, right? That would free up more of her time to do things she actually cared about. But she couldn’t just leave Boscha all alone out there.

Would it really be about leaving Boscha all alone? After all, her other friends were on the team. And why always spend time with her if it meant being a different person just to make her happy?

Maybe it was just because Boscha was her oldest friend. They’d been together longer than anyone else. Even from a young age Boscha hid behind a front of obnoxious bravado. But Skara knew better than anyone that there was more to her than that. Somewhere deep in there was a girl who was afraid of trying to figure things out. Very deep. Like, impossibly deep. Not that she really had any way to prove that.

The bell interrupted her thoughts and reminded her of the inevitable. It was time for Phase Two unless she could learn some spell to talk Boscha out of it. She begrudgingly got up and headed towards the next disaster.

When she arrived at their usual table, Boscha was already waiting.

“Glad you could make it. Now, I really need your help for this part. Are you ready to get your hands dirty?” Boscha held up a small vial with a red liquid in it. Just how many of these things had she brewed for today?

Skara knew to say no. This was bad news and saying yes had already blown up in her face once today. Spending time in the Healing Ward sounded like a terrible use of her day. Just say no. Just say no. “Uh, sure… What would I be doing?”

Boscha smiled. Sure, it was more like a smirk but she seemed relieved to have Skara’s support. As always. She handed the vial to Skara. “You just go up to their table and make small talk. Just a couple drops of this in their food and that’s all we need. It’ll light them up like no tomorrow. I’d do it myself but they’ll be on high alert if I go.”

Skara looked at the vial in her hand and then back to Boscha. Maybe she should just ‘accidentally’ drop it on the walk over to the table where the twins and troublemakers ate lunch. The longer she stared at it and contemplated her options, the more desperate Boscha’s face seemed. Maybe she was imagining things. With a sigh she kept it hidden and began walking towards the other table.

As she approached, it was Viney who spoke first. “Oh! You’re that girl that was running away after the potion accident this morning! I lost track of you before I could ask if you were okay. Did everything turn out alright?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah I’m fine. I, uh, was wanting to talk with you guys for a moment if you don’t mind.” Her hands were shaking a bit as she made sure to keep the vial out of view. The twins kept their eyes locked on her. They likely didn’t know her name, but they definitely knew her as one of Amity’s friends.

“Sure! Take a seat next to Barcus.” Viney said with a smile as she indicated a free space at the table’s edge next to the dog that Skara had now become quite familiar with. She offered him a nervous smile before sitting down next to him. As always, his expression was impossible to read.

It hadn’t escaped Skara that Viney was the only one speaking up. The twins continued to stare her down and the dual track guy, that was probably Jerbo, seemed to be hiding behind Edric.

“So, you’re Skara, right?” Viney said with that same smile. It surprised Skara that she knew her name. Sure, everyone knew the Dual Track crew at this point, but why would anyone know her?

“Yeah, that’s me. You must be Viney, Jerbo and Barcus, right? Everyone knows you guys.” Once she was done speaking she noticed a change in the expression on the twins. They looked like they’d realized something.

“Oh so *you’re* Skara!” Edric said, sounding relieved. “Mittens was telling us about you.”

“Mittens?” Skara asked, curious as to who was talking to the twins about her.

“Oh, that’s just an embarrassing nickname for Amity. Don’t tell her you heard about it.” Emira said with a smirk. 

It was time for Skara to confront something that she had been thinking about for a while but hadn’t really dwelt on for more than a second. The twins were drop dead gorgeous. Both of them. Wait, they just said that Amity was talking about her.

“Oh, uh, I hope she said nice things.” Skara said, genuinely worried about what Amity might have said. She considered Amity to be one of her dearest friends, but Skara knew that the feeling wasn’t mutual. Amity tolerated her. And that was that.

“It was a relatively glowing review. Anyways, pleased to meet you. You already know us.” Edric gave as much of a theatrical bow as he could while sitting in his chair. He ended up getting some of his food in his hair, which made the boy beside him laugh.

“Well now that we’re all acquainted, what did you want to talk about?” Viney asked.

“Oh! I was, um, hoping to ask you some questions about Dual Tracking.” Skara had to think of something to talk about. A quick glance behind her and she saw Boscha trying not to stare at her for more than a second at a time. She remembered what she came here to do.

“Are you thinking about Dual Tracking?” the healer asked, her tone indicated no judgement or suspicion.

“Yeah! I was just wondering what the process is like?” She lied. She had no interest in doubling her workload. She was doing just fine in one track. But she needed to keep the conversation going for her mission.

“Well it’s not really a definite process yet. If you were planning to start next semester maybe things will be more streamlined by then. Probably not though. This whole thing is really new and is going to take even someone like Bump a long time to get sorted out. We’ll probably be graduated by the time it’s even kind of figured out.” Viney seemed excited to talk about this with someone else. It even seemed to be drawing the other Dual Tracker out from his hiding place behind Edric, even if he wasn’t speaking up just yet.

“I see.” Skara said, pretending to mull it over. What she was really mulling over was what to do with this vial. She knew by now that she wasn’t putting it on anyone’s food. Even if Boscha was mad at her for it. She would find a way to calm her down.

“So I can see that you’re in the Bard Track. What second track are you considering?”

Skara felt terrible now. These people have been nothing but nice to her and she’s done nothing but lie to them. Even the terrible twins had greeted her with a smile.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do this.” she said as she stood up and started to walk away.

Despite Viney and the twins calling out for her, she ignored them and kept walking towards the exit. Even when she heard Boscha calling for her, she just kept walking.

Once she rounded the corner and was out of view, she started running. She didn’t know where she even wanted to go, so she eventually found herself at her locker. She just sat down and started trying to think of what happens next. Boscha shows up and yells at her? The twins show up and interrogate her?

As she sat alone, she realized the worst answer. Nobody shows up at all. She just sits here on the floor in front of her locker sad and alone. She couldn’t stop tears from flowing any longer.

She didn’t hear footsteps approaching as Boscha finally made her way towards her.

“Oh my gosh you’re crying? What in the name of the Titan did they say to you? Okay the new plan is to introduce the lot of them to my fireball special.” Boscha said through gritted teeth.

“What did they say to me? They were nice to me!” Skara said, finally looking up at Boscha. “They didn’t ask me to be an accomplice in anything. They didn’t ask me to poison anyone’s food! They were just nice!”

Boscha’s anger seemed to fizzle down to just usual irritation. “So what, are you on their side now?”

“Maybe I should be.” Skara said quietly, looking down at her feet again. “But I’m not. I’m on your side. I’m always on your side. But I don’t know why anymore. You clearly don’t care about me as much as I care about you. You just want me to be someone who says yes no matter what. I know the smart thing to do is just walk away and try to find someone who actually cares about me.”

Boscha, for the first time, looked well and truly hurt. She looked like she was at a loss for words. After a moment of huffing and puffing she sat down beside Skara.

“I’m… sorry. I wasn’t lying when I said you’re my go-to girl. You’re my oldest friend and I do care about you. You and Amity both. I’m just not good at showing it.” Boscha said with a sigh.

“You’re not good at acting like it either. You know, Amity messaged me and said that you haven’t sent her any kind of message at all. I know things were weird between you and Amity but you should’ve said something by now. Anything. It might have been an accident, but you still owe her an apology.” Skara felt a lot better just having this conversation.

Boscha shifted uncomfortably for a moment. “You’ve known me longer than just about anybody. You know I’m not good at talking about stuff. But I couldn’t handle it if I finally pushed you away too. And I worry that when we do talk about this, you’ll hate me. If you don’t already.”

“I don’t hate you. But I’m tired! I’m tired of always being used. I’m tired of always feeling like all of my friends are more important to me than I am to them.” Skara was still crying and burying her head in her hands.

“You’re so important to me! You said earlier that I was using this thing with the twins to avoid talking about other problems. You were right. I’ve just been trying to avoid thinking about it too much. I…” Boscha took a deep sigh, seemingly afraid that this next line could end her friendship with Skara, “I did it on purpose. It wasn’t a Grudgby accident. That’s why I haven’t sent her a message. I don’t even know what kind of apology would even be good enough.”

“What?!” Skara couldn’t believe it. Even at her worst she never imagined Boscha would willingly hurt one of her own friends like that. “How could you do that?”

“I know. It was about that time that I realized it was never about Willow. We’ve been friends with Amity for years and I can maybe count on one hand the number of times she’s smiled. Even at her own Moonlight Conjuring she just sat at the window all brooding. And I noticed that when she started hanging out with Willow and the human she was smiling and laughing.” There was no way to describe Boscha’s expression as anything but deeply ashamed.

Skara stared at her friend. Boscha never opens up like this. She certainly never let herself be vulnerable around anyone. Instantly forgetting about her own worries, she listened closely.

“I watched and I got jealous. I got mad. What did Half-A-Witch Willow have that I don’t? Then one thing just sort of led to another. LIke I said out there on the field I finally realized that it was never about Willow. I felt like Amity was leaving me behind. And I thought I could get even with her. Ha, I’m so obsessed with turning everything into a competition that I felt like I could ‘win’ against a friend who wasn’t even trying to compete with me. She was right. She’s growing up and I’m just still a stupid kid who won’t ever learn any better.” Boscha made absolutely sure her gaze did not meet Skara’s. This was far from what came natural for her and she was deeply afraid of what Skara thought. On a number of levels. And she certainly didn’t want her friend to see her choking up.

“You’re right. That is stupid.” Skara finally said with a bit of a giggle. Boscha immediately winced. “But I think you’re already starting to learn better. Now, we’re not going anywhere until you send an apology to Amity. And when she’s all healed up you can talk to her. Like really talk to her.”

Boscha had fully expected Skara to leave after her confession. She was openly admitting to being petty and bitter and stupid and childish. She had every right to leave. She should leave. But she hadn’t left. In fact, she was demanding to stay.

“You’re right.” She said, her voice dripping with resignation. She called forth her scroll and, before opening it, looked at the smiling Skara next to her. “I’m sorry again. I know I’m a bit much a lot of the time. I won’t blame you if you want to leave.”

“Do you want me to leave?” Skara shifted a bit nervously as she asked. She was more than willing to sit things out with her oldest friend who was finally making an effort to open up. She hardly expected Boscha to make a sudden flip into being the nicest witch on the isles but it was a start.

“Uh, I wouldn’t have gone on like that if I wanted you to leave.” Boscha rolled her eyes at Skara’s question. Wasn’t it obvious that she needed Skara to stay?

‘No, she definitely hasn’t suddenly become an angel’ Skara thought to herself.

“Try asking nicely.”

Boscha scoffed. “Ugh, Please stay here with me.”

“You’re bad at this, but we’ll work on it. Now, let’s workshop this message to Amity.” Skara’s smile beamed as always and brought comfort and even a smile to Boscha’s own face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized recently that I haven't updated the tags since I originally posted the story. If there's any tags aside from character tags that you think need to be added, please let me know!
> 
> Oh and there may be a break again after this chapter. Real life has been wild and left it kind of difficult to write


End file.
